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By Noah Nunnelly *Names and details have been changed to protect privacy. Mary* (not her real name) has been working at a nursing home as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for many years; she cares deeply for her patients, takes pride in her facility, and does hard work. Sometimes, her shift will last 16 hours.… Continue reading A Nursing Home: Lessons from the Greenhouse Model of Care

By Sam Cox COVID-19 has upended all areas of society, but among the populations worst affected are elderly residents of long-term care facilities. Older adults are most vulnerable to serious complications of COVID-19, representing over 80% of COVID-19 deaths in the United States despite making up just 15.6% of the population. Older adults living in… Continue reading Medicaid and Quality of Care: How our Funding Structure Failed Nursing Homes

By Sam Cox and Evan Benjamin, MD, MS The COVID-19 pandemic has strained our medical systems, transforming the medical environment for both patients and staff. Medical errors are not uncommon in normal times, but the upended medical environment physicians now find themselves in has in several ways made adverse events even more difficult to avoid.… Continue reading Communication and Transparency in the Time of COVID-19

By Jocelyn Fifield, MPH, and Susan Haas, MD, MSc Abortion has long been among the most fragile pieces of women’s health care, and the current COVID-19 pandemic is exposing and in many cases widening existing barriers to care. As health care systems adapt, many have delayed or cancelled “non-essential services” to accommodate COVID-19 patients, preserve… Continue reading Abortion and COVID-19: Ensuring access in the wake of a pandemic

By Ruby Kwak In late March 2020, as COVID-19 infection rates climbed rapidly in the United States, Dr. KJ Seung of Partners in Health — a global health NGO based in Boston — reached out to his brother, Professor Sebastian Seung, a neuroscience and computer science professor, at Princeton University, with an unusual request for… Continue reading Crowdsourcing Against Coronavirus: The COVID Translate Project’s Mission to Spread Knowledge Worldwide

By Leigh Graham, PhD For community members for whom social support is essential to their health and well-being, social distancing is not just isolating, but perilous to their mental health, to their community and family stability, to their survival. For people in recovery, pregnant and birthing people, older adults, people with disabilities, single parents, and… Continue reading Centering the Vulnerable: A Plan for Providing Community Social Support During Social Distancing

By Francine Maloney “I’m doing pretty well.” That’s not the response you expect to hear when our world is facing the largest medical crisis of our time. You might think the speaker is either lying or in serious denial. But surprisingly, some of us with serious and/or chronic illnesses have been answering with these words… Continue reading Living in Increments: Coping with Uncertainty in the Time of COVID-19