Coronavirus: Washington nursing home stops answering phones of worried families after more than 50 fall ill
Families of coronavirus patients in a Washington state nursing home have slammed the facility after nursing home authorities stopped informing them about the condition of their loved ones. The medical facility, Life Care Center in Kirkland, is where the second US man succumbed to the deadly virus.
At least six cases of patients suffering from COVID-19 have been confirmed at the Kirkland facility, including one in his 70s, who later died at the hospital. Reports state that over 50 staffers and residents have also displayed symptoms of the virus and are being tested. The facility has also been previously denounced for failing to curb the spread of varied viruses.
A woman, anxious to know about her ailing husband's condition, has come forward to slam the medical center's handling of the virus outbreak. Bonnie Holstad said that she has not been given any details of her husband's condition or treatment. Holstad said that her husband, Ken Holstad, was staying at the facility after a fall resulted in a broken hip. The staff of the facility, however, are now refusing to tell her about his current condition, the Daily Mail reported.
Holstad said that she had made multiple calls to the facility but all of them have gone unanswered as she desperately waited for the news that he is okay after he contracted a cough. Her husband also suffers from dementia and Parkinson's.
Holstad, on Sunday, was seen standing outside the facility with a sign saying: "No one at Life Care is answering the phones. He needs to be attended to ... what is his temperature?"
The woman, while talking to CNN about her anguish, said: "I was so angry. How can this be that I have to do this, make a sign and go down there? I'm very worried for my husband. He's one of the vulnerable people," because of his age and his Parkinson's disease.
"I have real problems with how they're handling the interface with family," Holstad said, remarking it was "sort of like a movie about an epidemic in a little town, and they don't know how to handle the situation."
The latest report states that around 27 of the 108 residents and 25 of the 180 staff have shown some symptoms of the new coronavirus, including some cases where they have contracted pneumonia. Four new cases of the virus were confirmed on March 1, including the deceased male, taking the confirmed cases at the facility to six.
The virus has claimed over 3,000 lives across the world and over 85,000 people have been infected as on March 2.