Nadia Kiderman has been a veteran healthcare consultant for a number elder care facilities over the last decade. As we all know by now, the Coronavirus pandemic has led to many changes in the industry, and brought to light (at long last) the myriad amount of challenges and issues plaguing the industry. It’s unfortunate that a pandemic of the magnitude of the Coronavirus had to take place in order to bring so many of these issues to the surface, that so many working within the industry were aware of, for a very long time. 

Nadia Kiderman writes passionately about the need for dramatic reform to be made to this industry. It’s been a long time coming; but there needs to be a calculated effort made in order to be able to exercise proper influence over the prospect of there to be real and substantive change in the area of enhancing the quality of care affording to these facilities’ residents. Why did it  have to take a pandemic of the sheer scope and magnitude of the Coronavirus in order for there to be a wakeup call among the entire nation concerning the plight of our elderly in elder care facilities – including nursing homes and assisted living facilities?

Why has the media committed quasi-malpractice by not shedding light on this travesty sooner? Why does it  have to take a pandemic of the size of the COVID-19 pandemic where nursing homes and elder care facilities have become hotbeds for fatalities of our nation’s elderly, in order for there to be proper exposure of this utter neglect?

It’s worth for us to consider that many of these facilities maintain incredibly close and in some cases inextricable ties with their respective political lawmakers and representatives, courtesy of government affairs professionals. The need for lobbyists to be on constant retainer for executives in this industry is something that would ordinarily take great interest and even spark a red flag for members of any other industry. Why do they need such level of political influence routinely wielded? Why’s it  incredibly important for them to have these sorts of political connections as they navigate running their business’ day-to-day lives?

The reality is that a proper visit or site and inspection to any of these many facilities by government oversight bodies would yield the answers to these questions. There is gross understaffing in so many of these facilities – whether they be elder care facilities or more generally, nursing homes. That means the ratio that is maintained between residents of these facilities (who are old and frail and in need of constant care) and the nursing staffs is grossly lopsided and not adequate. This does not allow for their needs and wants to be cared for in a sustainable and sufficient fashion. Residents are left with having to deal with the status quo; which will continue to be maintained, absent of any meaningful reform implemented in this industry. 

Nadia Kiderman blogs about this issue and shows her passion for the subject matter by doing so. She has been a vocal advocate of reform for those in the elder-care industry – both for the residents themselves, but also for the dedicated members of the staffs, who in many cases are also left with the incredible onus and burden of having to fill in the gaps. Ultimately, when there is gross understaffing, certain members of the staff are left with having to go above and beyond in terms of the labor that they practice and all the work they engage in, in order to compensate for the void of professionalism and work on the part of what would normally be their colleagues. 

The reason so many of these facilities engage in this level of absolute malpractice is because there is not nearly enough regulatory action taken against them. To begin with, there isn’t a sufficient deterrence factor that exists, which would ordinarily serve as a source of discouragement for them to cease the sort of neglect they exhibit through their actions. This has got to change. Now that the entire public can see for themselves, due to the ample media coverage, the immense amount of neglect that is taking place to our nation’s most vulnerable population, we need to take action. That action should take the form of lobbying our state, county and federal legislators ourselves. This is supposed to be a government, for the people and by the people. In order for it  to act as one, we need to execute on our own in order to make it  behave like one.