Getting through tough times
Staff, community members have played huge role for nursing homes since pandemic began
While the coronavirus pandemic have shaken things up for nearly a near now, both Vancrest and Otterbein – St. Marys have been allowing indoor visitation.
“We are able to have indoor visitation as long as it’s monitored and with the plexiglass and sanitizing,” said Sarah Vordermark, administrator at Vancrest. “As long as we don’t have active COVID in the building, staff or residents.”
She said Vancrest did have a staff member test positive recently, but the facility had not had any prior cases since December.
For Otterbein, Executive Director Melissa Smalley said it was a challenge when the pandemic first began.
“Capacity wasn’t a big issue for us, but what occurred in the beginning — we didn’t do admissions throughout the time we had positive cases in our building,” said Smalley. “That was challenging and we also had to ensure that we had them separated so we had to move people within our location together.”
She explained that there was a lot of moving around and that residents that tested positive had to be together in the same area, a big change for a campus that has availability for 240 residents.
“So if you had 10 COVID cases, those 10 individuals had to be cared for in that same area,” she said. “You didn’t know if you were going to have a positive case so you may have to move somebody to get somebody else in that space to care for them. There was a lot of moving around of residents which is always difficult.”
Smalley said that for residents, Otterbein is their home, so to have to be moved around, it wasn’t easy.
“People don’t realize this is their home and when you have to uproot them but their home, it’s not easy for them. It can be traumatic for them to
have to leave their home for that period of time,” she said.
With vaccinations currently ongoing in Auglaize County, Smalley said she’s hopeful they can help bring some normalcy back to their lives.
“Thankfully our cases are going down dramatically,” she said. “I think our nursing home has responded well to the situation, considering what we were dealing with. I think thankfully the vaccinations our governor determined that we were an industry that needed it and our elders needed it first because we are seeing dramatic declines in our positivity rate. We’re hoping that our lives can get back to a more normal situation that we can have families back in and our residents can have a sense of freedom that they so deserve. I don’t think people realize how traumatic it’s been for them.”
Both Smalley and Vordermark expressed their gratitude for staff members, who have been so important in getting through the pandemic.
“They are so hardworking and so selfless. When everybody was scared of it, and they came in to the fire, and reacted and responded and did it fearlessly,” said Smalley. “No questions asked. They were here and worked. Many of them worked many, many hours to care for people that were positive in an unsure environment. And I don’t think they’ve received enough recognition in all that they’ve done. I don’t know how you ever recognize that. They’re just so hardworking and dedicated. They truly love the people they care for or else they wouldn’t do it.”
Vordermark said staff members have learned a lot about what it’s like to be a family.
“I think that it was such a hard time and we all kind of got together during times of crisis,” she said. “Especially during our outbreak. We had everybody working the floor. It wasn’t just the nurses and the STNA’s. I was working the floor. We all worked weird hours and we all just pitched together because we love our residents and we care about them and their families. It really just proved how much people can come together in a time of crisis.”
Vordermark added that support from community members has been tremendous and they’ve played a big part in getting Vancrest through the pandemic.
“I’m grateful for the community’s support. They were a tremendous part of our well-being during our outbreaks and all of COVID,” she said. “They would bring masks to us, different activities like puzzles. People call us all the time and ask how they can help. Without them, it would have been a lot harder.”