Isolation haunts nursing home residents, families
The spread of COVID limits the options at long-term facilities.
After Gov. Mike De Wine closed nursing homes to visitors in March in hopes of reducing the spread of the coronavirus to their uniquely vulnerable residents and the people who care for them, Phyllis Wrenn was unable to see her mother.
Since her mother, Eileen Shoemaker, a resident at Laurelwood Senior Living in Miami Twp., had severe hearing loss, it was difficult for the two to communicate on the phone. They couldn’t interact through a window because her mother lived on the second floor, and her mother’s failing sight made in-person visits worthless.
Wrenn, who typically visited her mother four or five times a week, felt separated and frustrated.
“I remember one time she said, ‘Why can’t you come visit me?’ ” Wrenn recalled. “Her memory was real bad.”
Wrenn tried to explain the circumstances caused by the coronavirus.
Then her mother asked: “What did I do wrong?”
Shoemaker, the eldest of nine siblings and raised on a Darke County farm during The Great Depression, turned 100 on March 15, but her birthday party, which she had anticipated for a full year, was canceled. Four months later, shewas hospitalized, then placed in Hospice care, where she died July 30 of double pneumonia,
apparentlycausedbyCOVID19, her daughter said.
“She died alone,” said Wrenn, 71, who lives in Centerville. “That’s real sad. She gave up living. She got very, very depressed.”
This scenario has been repeated across the countryafternursinghomesclosed theirdoorstovisitorsinhopes of trying to stop the coronavirus from spreading. Even though the residents have been isolated, residents and staffffmembers continue to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
Bob Applebaum, director of the Ohio Long TermCare Research Project at Miami University’s Scripps Gerontology Center, said the coronavirus has been“absolutely devastating” to the nursing home population.
Hesaidabout75,000Ohioans live in skilledcarenursing homes, and another 35,000 are in assisted living facilities and 35,000 live in continuing care retirement communitieswhere people typically live independently inhouses or apartments.
“The isolationis very, very diffifficult on a lot of people,” he said. “It’s horrible.”
He said while long-term facilities have triedto reduce the spread by isolating their residents, staffffmembers are carrying the virus to work.
He’s not sure what facilities can do.
“It’s like acatch-22,” he said. “There are no good options.”
In Ohio, 10,940 long-term care facility residents and 6,167 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus sinceApril 15, according to the most recent data fromtheOhioDepartment of Health. Of those, 2,262 have died, meaning 55% of the
4,076 coronavirus deaths in Ohio have occurred in longterm care facilities.
There have been56 deaths inMontgomeryCounty longtermcare facilities, 32 inButler, 23 in Warren, eight in Clark andone inWarrenand Preble, accordingtotheODH.
In Montgomery County, 396 residents and 271 staffff members have tested positive, with Friendship Village in Dayton (48 residents, 22 staffff), Heartland of Miamisburg (38 residents, 15 staffff) and St. Leonard Nursing Home in Centerville (31 residents, 21 staffff) leading the way.
Greene County is unique in more staffffmembers than residents have tested positive. There have been 14 residents and 37 staffff with Trinity of Beavercreek the most with nine residents, 10 staffffffffffff.
OakwoodVillageinSpringfifield has the most cases in ClarkCounty. Ithas reported 50 cases, including 26 for residents and 24 for staff. The county has reported 81 residents and 67 staffff cases.
ButlerCountyhasreported 226 residents and 92 staff members testedpositive. The twoHawthornGlen facilities, an assisted living and a nursing home, have reported 47 residents and 13 staffff members, which represents 19% of the county’s total cases.
Warren County has seen 108 residents and 70 staff members testpositive. Cedarview Nursing Home in Lebanon has reported the most cases in the county with 46 residents and 18 staffffffffffff.
PrebleCounty’s three facilities have reported 52 residents and 26 staffffmembers with coronavirus, while Greenbriar Nursing Center inEaton has reported 45 residents and 21 staffffmembers.