The COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about the resilience of health and care systems across the world and about how they can better prepare for future threats.
In several countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, those living in care homes have been at particular risk (Legido-Quigley, Mateos-García et al. 2020, Rajan, Comas-Herrera et al. 2020).
Looking across health systems, we can see some common challenges related to the delivery and organization of care. Social care facilities, unprepared for protecting residents and struggling to obtain support from authorities, recorded a surge in infections and mortality.
This raises the question of how healthcare provision can be sustained for vulnerable groups, including the elderly and people with care needs.
Elderly people are the most vulnerable in terms of the consequences of a potential COVID-19 infection. At the same time, they are also a vulnerable group in terms of the impact of measures to reduce transmission of COVID-19, as social isolation can be an important health concern for this group.
The responses to COVID-19 may represent an opportunity for innovation and adaptation of medical and care training with the aim of protecting vulnerable groups. Given that COVID-19 could well become a part of our life, health and care systems need to be adapted to the new reality and caregivers of the elderly need to be able to provide them with the vital help they need without compromising their health.
The MiCare project aims to develop a detailed training package for migrants to work as caregivers for the elderly and people with care needs. Taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of the Art Analysis implemented in order to uncover the needs of migrants wishing to work as caregivers involved the investigation of whether migrants feel comfortable working during the pandemic, whether they feel able to protect themselves and the people their care for and also if they know how to help vulnerable people cope during a pandemic in terms of social support and stress-management.
The training package currently being developed will focus on the results of the State of the Art analysis mentioned above, showing the importance of adapting to new realities.
Learn more about the MiCare project: https://www.facebook.com/MiCareProject https://twitter.com/micareproject
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