John
“We were pretty much labeled, ground zero for Burke County. At one point, this building held two thirds of all of our county’s total positive cases.”
This is part of a series on Grace Heights Health and Rehabilitation — which had over 40 residents and 35 staff members test positive for COVID.
MORGANTON, NC: I’m the Administrator at Grace Heights Health and Rehabilitation. I started here in January 2020. We had over 40 residents and 35 staff members who tested positive for COVID.
We had over 40 residents and 35 staff members who tested positive for COVID.
When I first heard about COVID-19, I remember thinking, “How fast will it spread to the United States?” As time went by, I saw Italy, France, and other countries struggling to contain the virus. That is when it started to become real. Then, I woke up one day and it was in the United States at a nursing home in Seattle. My heart sank. I thought it'd be a matter of time before it found its way to transportation hubs like New York and Atlanta and then to us.
Our parent company, SanStone Health, and Rehabilitation had policies and procedures set up far in advance. We went through different scenarios and how to respond to them before they actually happened. There's really no training for something so unprecedented. I wanted to do everything I could to make the staff comfortable with the reality that it could be in the building at some point. When it came, I feel the staff were not as “shell shocked” as they probably would have been had no preparation been done.
There's really no training for something so unprecedented.
For over 25 years, this facility has been the premier facility in Burke County. It simply doesn't get better than this. As soon as we were the first ones in this area to have an outbreak, social media went wild. The news went wild. We got called awful things like “the cesspool of Burke County.'' Employees were shunned and harassed in public for simply doing the job they love.
For over 25 years, this facility has been the premier facility in Burke County. It simply doesn't get better than this. As soon as we were the first ones in this area to have an outbreak, social media went wild. The news went wild. We got called awful things like “the cesspool of Burke County.'' Employees were shunned and harassed in public for simply doing the job they love.
We were very proactive when it came to precautions and testing. We began screening people in February. We closed all but one access point so that there was only one way in and one way out of the building and created a separate facility within our building strictly for COVID patients. Staff are not allowed to work in both places.
PPE was never an issue for us so luckily we didn't need to scramble. We always had adequate levels of staff who took the residents' temperatures, O2 stats, respirations, and vitals twice a day to collect data for monitoring. We ended all communal activities and moved dining to residents’ rooms. Everyone was pretty much quarantined to their rooms for a while and of course, no visitors have been allowed since early March.
There's a very low percentage of facilities that would accept COVID patients from the hospital. At a time like this, I feel like it's our duty as a healthcare provider to provide these people a safe place when others won't and we will continue to. We will help and do our part however long we need to.
There's a very low percentage of facilities that would accept COVID patients from the hospital. At a time like this, I feel like it's our duty as a healthcare provider to provide these people a safe place when others won't and we will continue to. We will help and do our part however long we need to.
Unprecedented events like this test your commitment to being a healthcare professional. You're no longer just going to work and providing routine care. You're going to work and trying to save lives, literally, on a daily basis. For all of us on the front lines, it gets really hard and draining. Some staff have been forced to make serious sacrifices – such as sending kids and family away or staying in basements for who knows how long.
In my case, in mid-July I had a sore throat so I went to the ER to get tested knowing they yielded immediate results. We were extremely lucky that the hospital right across the street from us assisted with getting test results almost immediately, which at the time was unheard of. After less than an hour I was informed of my positive test result and sent home where I remained quarantined alone for the next 14 days.
Roughly two days after being diagnosed I started experiencing very mild symptoms. I experienced some fatigue for about a week and a half and lost my sense of taste and smell, neither of which have fully returned.
This experience has changed me. It puts it in perspective. It's hard to describe. Personally, walking through the halls gives me strength. All I need to do is look at these residents and it gives me a reason to come to work and fight this fight.
I am so incredibly proud of my staff for overcoming all the challenges COVID presented and clearing our outbreak as of mid-September. We're a strong facility and we still have a lot to do, and we're glad to do it.