Nursing home fought to keep residents alive
LOUISVILLE – Benjy Brednich was four days into his new job as administrator of a Kentucky nursing home when the facility learned of its first case of COVID-19.
It was a resident who’d already been transferred to a hospital. But with help from the outgoing administrator, Brednich and his employees at Louisville East Post Acute got to work testing other residents, calling family members and constructing a COVID-19 wing where sick patients could be separated.
The moves proved necessary. Within days, 27 of the building’s 170 residents had tested positive for the coronavirus.
And for weeks, employees at Louisville East rarely took breaks as they fought to keep their patients from adding to the fatalities.
Chrissy Wilson, a manager in Louisville East’s rehab unit, volunteered to become a floor nurse in the coronavirus wing. For more than two weeks she worked 12-hour shifts daily, leaving only to shower and sleep. At home, she quarantined herself from her family – cut off from them by an always-closed bedroom door.
Heather Fritsch, the facility’s infection preventionist, moved into a nearby hotel through the outbreak.
She lives more than an hour’s drive from Louisville East, and she couldn’t bear being that far away as the rest of the staff picked up extra hours and shifts.
Pam Pearson, director of the Pathways Brain Injury program, meanwhile, has helped the unit’s 20 or so residents maintain structured routines through months of uncertainty. And while family members still can’t visit, she and other employees have shared patients’ progress through videos and phone calls.
Bryan Trujillo, a social worker, has also spent hours on the phone, making sure residents’ loved ones stay up to date on everything taking place within the home. The staff could have sent text messages instead. But they felt it was important that people be able to ask questions, state their concerns and just hear a voice.
In long-term care, residents become like family, the employees said.
“When it broke out, it was the most helpless feeling you’ve ever felt in your life,” said Amanda Russo, director of admissions. “These are people you’ve taken care of and loved for years, and it’s devastating.”
Through two stints of the coronavirus, more than 50 residents and nearly 30 staff members have tested positive at Louisville East, including six residents who’ve died.
But as of this month, every patient and employee has tested negative.
The facility is now coronavirus-free. Wilson, a 16-year employee of Louisville East, said she’s back to her role as a unit manager. But she would return to the COVID-19 wing in a heartbeat if needed.
“It’s where my heart is, I guess,” she said. “Not all days are easy. There are days I walk out and it’s like, ‘Lord, why did I do this?’ But there are days I walk out, and I’m so proud to be a nurse. I’m thankful I can give to people.”