CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — “We didn’t know until it was too late.” That’s what we’re hearing from family members who’ve lost loved ones living in nursing homes to the coronavirus.
Viewers have told us they were not alerted when their family members were isolated for suspected COVID. They say they were left in the dark and left to watch their loved ones die without being fully informed why it was happening.
“Devastated. Devastated from all of it,” says Denine Brown as she wipes away tears, recalling the days her grandmother was dying. Brown says her family wasn’t informed about her grandmother’s condition at Autumn Care of Chesapeake.
View current COVID-19 outbreak data for Virginia’s long-term care facilities here
“The communication was awful. My mom had to keep calling to see what was going on.”
Brown says her grandmother was put in isolation for about three days, and the family wasn’t told that she had been moved. Brown and her mother were able to visit that April Sunday from a distance.
“What was disheartening was when we knocked on the window, she did not know who I was, and I’m her granddaughter. She didn’t know who my mom was, who is her daughter.”
Just a few days later her grandmother was dead from the coronavirus.
“The fact that they didn’t even call to say I’m sorry for your loss,” Brown said.
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At another Autumn Care home in Suffolk, Franklin Whitley wasn’t eating, and that was unusual. His daughter Yvonne was getting worried and suspicious.
“(The staff) wouldn’t do anything I asked them to do, and then I went there on a Tuesday morning early, and found out that they were packing up all his belongings,” Whitley says.
Franklin Whitley was now in quarantine. But just who made that decision — and why — became a perplexing puzzle.
“They told me that they had to move him over there, that it was doctor’s orders. Then the doctor himself told me that he never ordered him to go to quarantine. Then the facility said the doctor doesn’t have to order it, they can move him if they want to. But at 2 o’clock in the morning? And they don’t even call and tell me anything.”
Whitley asked to speak with the administrator and the director of nursing.
“Neither one would come out and speak with me. No one would talk with me and let me know what their plan was, why they moved my dad at 2 o’clock in the morning.”
Later that week Franklin Whitley died of COVID-19 in the hospital.
We asked the parent company of Autumn Care, Saber Healthcare Group, which is based near Cleveland, COVID questions about communication with family members, follow-up testing for positive residents, and what happens when a staff member tests positive.
Saber’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nancy Istenes gave us this statement:
“The facilities act in the best interest of their residents to promote their health, safety, and welfare during this evolving crises. We have worked closely with the Department of Health and continue to follow all necessary guidelines, including any necessary testing and reporting requirements. We have established a personalized care plan for any affected resident and have routinely updated all residents and responsible parties regarding their condition and care.”
Saber is just one of several nursing home operators in Hampton Roads. Governor Northam called for a special task force for Covid and nursing homes led by the state Department of Health.
“We definitely encourage that facilities have regular communication with family members and loved ones. It only helps,” said task force co-chair and state epidemiologist Dr. Laurie Forlano.
The task force can make recommendations for communication plans to nursing homes, but they don’t have the power of law. However state authorities can monitor compliance.
The task force can recommend “a plan for how they’re going to communicate, a plan for often they’re going to communicate and then surveyors would be looking for whether the facility is following the plan,” according to VDH program manager Sarah Lineberger.
The task force is also working on getting more PPE and test kits to nursing homes, and trying to reduce the turnaround time for getting the results. A nationwide survey showed in some cases, results can take four days or more, when given the vulnerable community involved, time is of the essence.