The LTC Innovation Blog

It is anticipated that United States public health emergency (PHE) declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic will be drawing to a close in the coming months.

There’s no denying the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down. The average person has a completely different agenda than they did at the beginning of 2020, and workplace environments have drastically changed over the last few months with no signs of heading back to the place they once were. In the world of long-term care pharmacies, management and their staff members are taking serious precautionary measures as they transition to this “new normal” in the workplace.

We’re continuing to adapt to these unprecedented times without clear indication of if and when things will feel normal again. From the perspective of long-term care (LTC) facilities and pharmacies, the pandemic strikes a particularly unique chord. Not only is the industry facing financial pressures amidst declining admission rates, but the emotional and physical toll of the COVID-19 climate is profoundly impacting frontline workers and pharmacy staff.

Although we've crossed over into a new year, the world at large won't necessarily feel that different for many people, due to the persistent health hazard and societal upheaval stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Those working in various facets of the U.S. healthcare sector — particularly elder and long-term care, which has seen more death than other areas of caregiving by far — feel this burden even more acutely. Depression, anxiety, and the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder are hardly uncommon.

Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is the coordinated effort between a number of federal agencies to accelerate the research, discovery, and production of a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19. Among these are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Defense.