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In NYC Nursing Homes, Families Fear Impact Of Low-Staffing & Isolation On Their Loved Ones
By
Cindy Rodriguez
Published Mar 19, 2020
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By
Cindy Rodriguez
Published Mar 19, 2020
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At dusk on a windy Friday night last week, Far Rockaway, Queens felt desolate. The boardwalk was empty. So was the beach. And there was barely a sign of life at the nursing homes that dot the city streets.
At West Lawrence Care Center, a 215-bed nursing home, a sign on the front door read, “Unfortunately, we are not accepting visitors at this time due to the outbreak of COVID-19.”
A short drive away, at the Horizon Care Center, the red sign on the front gate read, “Now Hiring.” But the facility looked almost abandoned until a guard with a medical face mask saw a reporter poking around, popped open the back door and confirmed no visitors were being allowed inside.
Both of these facilities are among the 111 nursing homes in New York City that are staffed below the national average, according to government statistics — about two thirds of all of the city’s nursing homes.
Janice Brown has come to accept this fact. That’s not her real name. She wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the nursing home where her mother has lived for six years. Brown said she was used to filling in for staff.
“Well, actually, the only thing they haven’t done is given me an identification card ok,” she said.
Prior to the lockdown, Brown said she and her daughter would visit her mom for four hours a day — sometimes six on weekends. She listed all they do.
“Reposition her, change her, clean her up, give her showers,” she said. “I juice for her. She loves a good smoothie with spinach and beets and strawberries and blueberries and bananas.”
Since the lockdown, she can only see her mom for one hour a day. And only after she’s been carefully screened.
“They will take my temperature, they will read it and I will sign in from there,” she said. “It’s not much that can be done in an hour.”
It’s not much time to be a real presence for her mother near the end of her life. She’s always been there in times of need. Just two weeks ago — before the pandemic — the nursing home called to say her mother could no longer swallow. The implication was, death was near. Brown pushed back, and it turned out her mom was weak from a urinary tract infection. It got treated and she started eating again.
“I feel like if I’m not there to advocate, then what’s going to happen?” Brown said.
Listen to reporter Cindy Rodriguez’s radio story for WNYC:
The state health department has instructed nursing homes to stop all visits, with a few exceptions, such as in the case of hospice patients like Brown’s mom. They’ve also been instructed to do health checks on their staff prior to each shift. Staff with symptoms or a fever of 100 or more get sent home.
“We have always been worried about nursing home staffing levels and we are even more worried now,” said Susan Dooha, the Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York. The organization runs New York City’s Long Term Care Ombudsman program, which is a type of government-mandated watchdog. They visit nursing homes, advocate for residents and show them how to initiate complaints. But now they’re barred from on-site visits too, and they have to do their jobs by phone.
Dooha wants state health department inspectors to step up their presence.
“Surveillance personnel from the Department of Health need to be in nursing facilities now, to examine prevention and infection control, to examine the staffing levels and safety protocols,” she said.
The state Health Department said there will be no extra inspections, but they will target their response at certain facilities. A spokeswoman said the agency will also be in regular contact with nursing homes and has issued guidance on how to prevent exposure and how to contain the virus if someone gets sick.
“Infection prevention controls are at the top of our list. They are our number one priority,” said Stephen Hanse, president of New York State Health Facilities Association/New York State Center for Assisted Living. It’s the trade organization for nursing home providers.
To prevent the spread of illness, healthcare staff are supposed to wash their hands frequently, wear masks, and change their gloves.
Hanse called it a critical time and said nursing homes were focused on the pandemic, but he also acknowledged that understaffing is a long-standing problem.
“New York and the nation is faced with a healthcare workforce crisis,” he said.
Hanse said he believes that nursing home jobs are no longer attractive and workers have more employment options. Advocates believe the shortage is caused by for-profit providers trying to cut costs. Whatever the causes of understaffing, the decision to close schools could make the problem worse.
Hanse wants the government to create child care sites where children of emergency care workers and healthcare workers can go during the day.
“That process is underway, but that has caused additional concern,” he said.
Some studies suggest a link between understaffing and the spread of infections in nursing homes, but Hanse said visitors are the biggest source of new infections. He expects the lockdown will last for several more months.
The separation is already taking a toll on Brooklyn resident Melinda Lightburn. She hasn’t been able to visit her mother for a week.
“Well, it’s been emotionally rough,” she said. “They were nice enough to do a video chat today.”
Her mother didn’t want to look at the camera, so she whistled the way she always does when she visits. It is the same bird-like whistle her mother would use with her when she was a child.
“If we ever got lost in a crowd or something, she would whistle and we would know exactly where she was,” Lightburn explained.
Her mom raised four kids and worked at McDonald’s for 17 years. Today, at 90, even with dementia, she still recognizes the whistle. It’s become the way mother and daughter connect. Lightburn is struggling to accept the distance the virus has caused. She cried thinking about it.
“I just want her to know that I haven’t abandoned her,” she said. “And for me I’m just trying my best to know that she’s ok, that she’s going to be ok.”
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COVID-19
coronavirus
nursing home
Cindy Rodriguez
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