industry & reform
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Like racism and sexism ‘ ageism can be seen as a process of systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people because they are old ’ he wrote .
This definition clearly applies to the relative silence in the media about the deaths of older people with Covid . It also applies to the way in which many employers seek to discriminate against potential employees on the basis of age . But this was not the cause of the Covid deaths .
The evidence is that the death rate of old people differed markedly between settings . Those who received care at home did not die at anything like the rate of those in residential care .
The published data for the deaths during 2022 is poor . The figures covering January 2020 to November 2021 are however very clear .
Although there are over four times more older people supported at home than are resident in aged care homes , 685 residents died with Covid in aged care facilities , whilst just 10 died who were in receipt of home care services .
The data suggests that we need to think more clearly about the actual conditions to understand the protective features associated with isolating home care recipients in their own home , and compare that with the problems of concentrating vulnerable populations together in circumstances where cross infection is extremely likely .
As Rungie argues , cross infection is near inevitable when large numbers of people live communally in shared spaces . This points to some very concrete actions we need to take . First , we need to work hard to provide a much better , 24 x 7 system of home care services that will keep more people at home , providing a genuine alternative to residential care .
Second , we also urgently need to develop approaches to the management of residential care services that will minimise cross- infection .
These approaches include better ventilation , better infection isolation , better staff and visitor screening and management . In each case we need to recognise that while social isolation can provide necessary protection against cross-infection , it is also harmful and should not be promoted as a longer-term preventative measure .
Both at home and in homes , supporting , maintaining and where necessary developing social contact must be seen as a central task for aged care services .
Ageism is difficult to eradicate . The evidence suggests that ageism is the result , not the cause of the problems . Worse still , real problems remain hidden if we allow the debate to be solely about ageism .
Let ’ s fight ageism . But it won ’ t disappear if we fail take concrete actions to build a truly effective and just system of aged care services to serve us all . ■
Michael Fine is an Honorary Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Macquarie University .
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