{"id":6297,"date":"2020-10-22T07:56:36","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T11:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=6297"},"modified":"2020-10-22T07:57:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T11:57:41","slug":"covid-19-is-damaging-bereaved-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2020\/10\/covid-19-is-damaging-bereaved-families\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Is Damaging Bereaved Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Losing someone you love is hard enough, but losing them to COVID can compound your grief. Journalist Judith Graham describes what\u2019s happening as the pandemic wears on and where help can be found. <\/span><\/i>Kaiser Health News<\/span><\/a> posted her article on August 12, 2020. The story also ran on CNN<\/a>. Funding from the Silver Century Foundation helps <\/span><\/i>KHN <\/span>develop articles (like this one) on longevity and related health and social issues.  <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Every day, the nation is reminded of COVID-19\u2019s ongoing impact as new death counts are published. What is not well documented is the toll on family members.<\/span><\/p>\n

New research suggests <\/span>the damage is enormous<\/a><\/span>. For every person who dies of COVID-19, nine close family members are affected, researchers estimate, based on complex demographic calculations and data about the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many survivors will be shaken by the circumstances under which loved ones pass away\u2014rapid declines, sudden deaths and an inability to be there at the end\u2014and worrisome ripple effects may linger for years, researchers warn.<\/span><\/p>\n

If 190,000 Americans die from COVID complications, . . . some models suggest, 1.7 million Americans will be grieving close family members, according to the study. Most likely to perish are grandparents, followed by parents, siblings, spouses and children.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a narrative out there that COVID-19 affects mostly older adults,\u201d said Ashton Verdery, a coauthor of the study and a professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University. \u201cOur results highlight that these are not completely socially isolated people that no one cares about. They are integrally connected with their families, and their deaths will have a broad reach.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of family structures, Black families will lose slightly more close family members than white families, aggravating the pandemic\u2019s disproportionate impact on African American communities. (Verdery\u2019s previous research modeled kinship structures for the US population, dating to 1880 and extending to 2060.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The potential consequences of these losses are deeply concerning, with many families losing important sources of financial, social and caregiving support. \u201cThe vast scale of COVID-19 bereavement has the potential to lower educational achievement among youth, disrupt marriages, and lead to poorer physical and mental health across all age groups,\u201d Verdery and his coauthors observe in their paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not being there in your love one\u2019s time of need, not being able to say goodbye, make prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress more likely. <\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, sounds a similar alarm, especially about <\/span>the psychological impact<\/span><\/a> of the pandemic, in a new paper on bereavement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBereaved individuals have become the secondary victims of COVID-19, reporting severe symptoms of traumatic stress, including helplessness, horror, anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt, and regret, all of which magnify their grief,\u201d she and coauthors from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a phone conversation, Prigerson predicted that people experiencing bereavement will suffer worse outcomes because of lockdowns and social isolation during the pandemic. She warned that older adults are especially vulnerable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot being there in a loved one\u2019s time of need, not being able to communicate with family members in a natural way, not being able to say goodbye, not participating in normal rituals\u2014all this makes bereavement more difficult and prolonged grief disorder and post-traumatic stress more likely,\u201d she noted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizations that offer bereavement care are seeing this unfold as they expand services to meet escalating needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, 5 percent to 10 percent of bereaved family members have a \u201ctrauma response,\u201d but that has \u201cincreased exponentially\u2014approaching the 40 percent range\u2014because we\u2019re living in a crisis,\u201d said Yelena Zatulovsky, vice president of patient experience at Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care, the nation\u2019s fifth-largest hospice provider.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since March, Seasons has doubled the number of grief support groups it offers to 29, hosted on virtual platforms, most of them weekly. All are free and open to community members, not just families whose loved ones received care from Seasons. (To find a virtual group in your time zone, call 1-855-812-1136, Season\u2019s 24\/7 call center.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides losing family members and friends, people are losing jobs and any sense of normalcy and safety.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re noticing that grief reactions are far more intense and challenging,\u201d Zatulovsky said, noting that requests for individual and family counseling have also risen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Medicare requires hospices to offer bereavement services to family members for up to 13 months after a client\u2019s death. Many hospices expanded these services to community members before the pandemic, and Edo Banach, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, hopes that trend continues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the people who die on hospice and their families who need bereavement support at this time; it\u2019s entire communities,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a responsibility to do even more than what we normally do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In New York City, the center of the pandemic in its early months, the Jewish Board is training school administrators, teachers, counselors and other clinicians to recognize signs of grief and bereavement and provide assistance. The health and human services organization serves New Yorkers regardless of religious affiliation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a collective grief experience that we are all experiencing, and we\u2019re seeing the need go through the roof,\u201d said Marilyn Jacob, a senior director who oversees the organization\u2019s bereavement services, which now include two support groups for people who have lost someone to COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much loss now, on so many different levels, that even very seasoned therapists are saying, \u2018I don\u2019t really know how to do this,\u2019\u201d Jacob said. In addition to losing family members, people are losing jobs, friends, routines, social interactions and a sense of normalcy and safety.<\/span><\/p>\n

For many people, these losses are sudden and unexpected, which can complicate grief, said Patti Anewalt, director of Pathways Center for Grief & Loss in Lancaster, PA, affiliated with the state\u2019s largest not-for-profit hospice. The center recently created a four-week group on sudden loss to address its unique challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coping with grief, especially when it is complicated by social isolation and trauma, takes time. Support groups can help. <\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The day before Julie Cheng\u2019s 88-year-old mother was rushed to the hospital in early July, she had been singing songs with Cheng\u2019s sister over the phone at her Irvine, CA, nursing home. The next morning, a nurse reported that the older woman had a fever and was wheezing badly. At the hospital, COVID-19 was diagnosed and convalescent plasma therapy tried. Within two weeks, after suffering a series of strokes, Cheng\u2019s mother died.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, Cheng has mentally replayed the family\u2019s decision not to take her mother out of the nursing home and to refuse mechanical ventilation at the hospital\u2014something she was sure her mother would not have wanted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been a lot of \u2018what ifs?\u2019 and some anger: someone or something needs to be blamed for what happened,\u201d she said, describing mixed emotions that followed her mother\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n

But acceptance has sprung from religious conviction. \u201cMostly, because of our faith in Jesus, we believe that God was ready to take her and she\u2019s in a much better place now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Coping with grief, especially when it is complicated by social isolation and trauma, takes time. If you are looking for help, call a local hospice\u2019s bereavement department and ask what kind of services it provides to people in the community. Funeral directors should also have a list of counselors and grief support programs. One option is <\/span>GriefShare<\/a>,<\/span> offered by churches across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many experts believe the need for these kinds of services will expand exponentially as more family members emerge from pandemic-inspired shock and denial.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe we\u2019re still at the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the help people need, and we won\u2019t understand the full scope of that for another six to nine months,\u201d said Diane Snyder-Cowan, leader of the bereavement professionals steering committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every day, the nation is reminded of COVID-19\u2019s ongoing impact as new death counts are published. What is not well documented is the toll on family members.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more COVID-19 Is Damaging Bereaved Families<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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