COVID-19 fear causing seniors to skip doctor’s visits - Many have not left home once since March, study finds

Fearful of contracting COVID-19 due to their high risk of severe illness or death, many of the island’s senior citizens have been cancelling doctor’s visits and other healthcare appointments in order to remain in the safety of their homes, even as a majority are concerned about loneliness, and worry that their medication for chronic illnesses will run out.

That’s the picture painted by the preliminary findings of a study conducted by the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre, surveying 313 senior citizens between July and August.

The data shows that more than 80 per cent of the respondents are concerned about being lonely due to COVID-19, while more than 60 per cent are worried about their medication running out, with more than 80 per cent of them having a chronic medical illness.

More than 60 per cent of the elders said they have not sought medical care since March, when the first case of COVID-19 was reported locally. In fact, only five per cent of those who were surveyed said they have left their home on more than seven days since the first stay-at-home order was announced in March. Roughly 54 per cent left their house on between one and three days since, while 29 per cent have not left home at all. More than 22 per cent of the seniors reported cancelling a doctor’s visit or healthcare appointment.

Last month, the Government modified the stay-at-home order restricting movement for citizens over 70 years, coming down from 75 years.

“If I don’t have to go on the road, I’m at my house,” said 76-year-old Lorenzo McNaught.

“To occupy [my] time, I play games with my wife, and we are religious people, and so we go online for services at different times,” said the St Mary resident.

Director of the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre, Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer, said she is not surprised by the findings, which confirmed some of the issues they have been observing as they interact with the elderly.

“I am very concerned about diet because 83 per cent of them have between hypertension and diabetes,” she said, however. “Remember, the management of chronic disease is also diet.”

SENIORS SCARED

The majority of the 151 Jamaicans who have died from COVID-19 up to Tuesday are said to be senior citizens with underlying medical conditions.

“It seems as if it is going to be with us for a long while, according to the news that we are hearing,” said one 80-year-old Hanover resident, who admitted to being concerned. “I am scared about what is happening.”

The senior citizen said that she mostly goes out for church activities so as to reduce her risk of contracting the coronavirus.

Approximately half of those surveyed reported that the Church was their source of social support, while 75 per cent rely heavily on family and friends, who they stay in contact with by phone. Meanwhile, 30 per cent depend on community groups and neighbours.

“Most were not affected by the various closures. However, those who were [have] reported being affected by closures of churches and Jamaica’s borders,” researchers Dr Douladel Tyndale-Willie and Dr Kayon Donaldson-Davis found.

Further analysis is currently being done of the findings.

nadine.wilson@gleanerjm.com