MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Every day in our community, home healthcare providers are serving those who are the most at risk from the virus.
WREG talked with one worker who says, despite that risk, she’s anxious to help others.
“I just wanted the world to know that we, as caregivers that go into the homes of the elderly, we’re also on the front line,” said Larena Collins, who has been a home healthcare provider in Memphis for two years, doing what she loves.
Collins says that every day, she faces the challenge of caring for the elderly — those most vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.
“Like go shopping, cook their food, things like that. We have to sanitize their houses. We have to do everything that we do for ourselves but they need someone to do it for them too,” Collins said.
She won’t identify the agency she works for but says she’s provided gloves, masks and sanitizer, items she takes every times she visits a client.
She also emphasized that she and her coworkers take every precaution when they’re sent to senior living facilities.
“We have to get our temperature taken upon entering the building, sanitize our hands, wear gloves and we have to have our masks on,” she said.
Collins feels many people don’t appreciate the role home healthcare providers are filling during the COVID-19 pandemic, often acting as a bridge between the elderly and the world just outside their rooms.
“I have a client who asks me, ‘Is everyone outside wearing masks?’” she said. “You know, everyone’s not wearing masks. Everyone’s not keeping the social distance.”
She hopes the care she’s providing will see many of her elderly clients through these uncertain times, all the while knowing her health is on the line as well.
“We walk into people’s homes, we walk into assisted living facilities, we walk into nursing homes not knowing if we’re going to walk out the same way we walked in,” she said.
