The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
DEMANDING CHANGE
Protesters gather outside The Grand Nursing Home in Rome
ROME, N.Y. » Nursing homes are supposed to be a safe haven for the elderly to live out their older years; protesters outside The Grand Nursing Home in Rome on August 6 think the conditions are far from safe.
It all started with a viral video posted by Raejean Wallace, a patient at the facility, that depicted her distress and alleged mistreatment. The video generated a lot of heat aimed toward the nursing home industry and The Grand in particular. Raejean’s daughter, Ruth Wallace, organized the act of protest, which attracted 30-40 allies to take a stand and attend the protest.
“There’s just a lot of bad things in here that shouldn’t be happening,” said Jeff Camadine, a protester there in memory of his mother who passed away from COVID-19 complications at The Grand months prior.
He and several others claimed multiple forms of neglect regularly occur at The Grand, such as leaving residents on the toilets for long periods of time, not bathing them regularly, ignoring their requests, and not providing dinners until the late evening. Some claim that staff have even stolen resident’s belongings.
Protesters said that the neglect is only being exacerbated because of COVID-19; it’s not anything new. Many feel that the facilities are severely understaffed, underfunded, and can’t provide the proper care.
“A lot of [staff] are worked so hard that I think they’ve just kind of given up,” said protester Tia Bevacque. She was in
attendance in support of her friends who were there for their grandmother who lives in the facility.
Bevacque added, “I think that the country as a whole, we’re already completely unprepared for [COVID-19] in the first place. [We] didn’t have enough resources or enough people, so I can only imagine what has been happening in nursing homes.”
Another protester present in memory of her mother who was a resident at The Grand in Illion remarked, “I can’t say that there’s not good aids and good nurses— it’s so understaffed. They just can’t give these patients the care that they need. And that’s why we’re here today.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the risk for severe illness from COVID-19 increases with age, making elderly nursinghome residents a target for concern. Additionally, those with pre-existing medical conditions are also at risk, and the communal nature of nursing-home living can create multiple points of exposure, making this population particularly vulnerable for multiple reasons.
In response to the dire need to protect nursing and adult-care facilities from the coronavirus, Oneida County government created a Nursing Home Task Force designed to look into the future of these facilities.
Current Nys-enforced measures already in place to keep the pandemic at bay in nursing homes include regular testing of staff, testing of residents when need be, and use of PPE. Only recently has NYS allowed limited visitation.
According to Oneida county data updated August 13, 29% of positive COVID-19 cases have come out of nursing homes, which may include both workers and residents.
NYS released COVID-19 nursing-home fatality data updated August 12 listing Oneida County with 45 confirmed deaths and nine “presumed” COVID-19 deaths. The number of nursing home residents that have succumbed to the virus is actually quite higher, however, given that the data collected by NYS only accounts for COVID-19 deaths that happen on nursing-home premises — any resident who dies elsewhere, such as in a hospital, is not counted in these numbers.
Oneida County shared that as of August 14, 90 deaths in the county have been related to nursing home residents who were COVID-19 positive at the time of their passing, whether they were in or outside of their facility. The total COVID-19 related death count for Oneida County is 117.
Several protesters carried signs remembering loved ones who were nursing-home residents and had passed away. How many of these deaths were related to COVID-19 is unknown, but one protester, Micheal Grifasi, said his dad of the same name had passed away from COVID-19 back in April.
He along with supporter Teresa Kearney and his father’s former wife, Donna Hughes, said that vital information was withheld from the family concerning COVID-19 at The Grand.
One of their signs read, “Mike Grifasi: Died of COVID-19, but negligence was the real killer.” The group alleges that Mike’s roommate, who was found to be COVID-19 positive, was removed from the room, and no one was informed of this potential exposure or even of the room changes.
“The notification from The Grand to the family didn’t come from The Grand, it came from us calling to check in on him because we hadn’t heard from him for a number of days, about four days,” the son said.
Michael said his father had become sick himself, and they only learned about this when they called. He was taken to a hospital shortly after. “They did not want to do that,” one of them said. “[The family] had to demand and verbally threaten the staff to call an ambulance to get their loved one out.”
Michael says they don’t know when exactly his father started showing symptoms because they were never notified, but after being admitted to the hospital, he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and shortly passed away.
His son said he asked The Grand why promises weren’t kept to inform them that their loved one had COVID-19 symptoms and was put on oxygen. “They said ‘We did notify you.’ And they were alleging that us calling to find out ourselves was them notifying us,” he stated.
The group said that Mike’s roommate also passed away a short time after and that his family was trying to get in contact with them to let them know about the exposure. He said The Grand said they couldn’t share that information due to HIPPA laws, which he says is not true.
Ultimately Michael said his father was alone in his room, getting sick for days, with no explanation given.
A member of his group stated, “We’re not going to bring our loved one back, but if we could help others, we don’t want them to die in vain.”
The Grand did not respond to requests for comment.
“I can’t say that there’s not good aids and good nurses— it’s so understaffed. They just can’t give these patients the care that they need. And that’s why we’re here today.”
— Protester