Family mourns man who died alone
When Stan Olive' s mother died of cancer 18 years ago, their family clustered around her bedside to say goodbye.
When his father died on April 15, that was out of the question.
For his mother's death, “We were all in the room,” Olive said. “Dad was holding her hand and everybody was there. For him to be by himself for so long, that's the challenging part to stomach.”
Preston Olive, 83, died of COVID-19 on April 15 at Grace Skilled Nursing and Therapy in Norman.
Visitors are prohibited from entering Oklahoma nursing homes as some facilities battle COVID-19. Due to the highly contagious nature of the virus, many who contract the illness end up fighting it without the in-person support of their family and friends.
“That's one of the harder things about it, is he died alone ," Olive said ." You wonder if nobody coming to see him caused him to give up. You just don't know.”
Olive last saw his father in person in late February or early March, just before the Norman nursing home closed its doors to visitors. After that, the two still
regularly video-chat ted, although the elder Olive had dementia and didn't fully understand how FaceTime worked.
The Olive family ga thered on April 23 at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in Norman for an intimate grave side service. With Vince Gill's “Go Rest High on that Mountain” playing, they said their goodbyes by slowly releasing a dozen red star-shaped balloons.
Grace Skilled Nursing and Therapy has seen one of the worst outbreaks of COVID19 in the state. As of Sunday, the facility had 82 residents and staff test positive for the virus. Of those, 10 have died.
Deaths in Oklahoma's longterm care facilities have been roughly 40% of the state's COVID- 1 9 deaths. Olive only had kind words about the staff at Grace Skilled Nursing, who he said kept in contact throughout every step of his father's treatment.
“Those people have a very, very difficult job,” he said. “I was appreciative of what they did, and I know that their hands were tied just like ours were.”
As Oklahoma has rapidly increased its testing capacity and stockpile of personal protective equipment, additional resources will be directed toward long-term care facilities in the coming days.
Nursing home and longterm care staffers are true heroes right now, said Mary Brinkley, executive director of Leading Age Oklahoma, which provides services to some 125 nursing homes and long-term facilities.
The public doesn' t see it, but the employees are recording their temperatures multiple times a day, they're wiping down surfaces constantly and they're doing everything they can to keep residents engaged and in good spirits, she said.
“The general public has no idea what's going on inside those walls,” Brinkley said. “From the day that facilities were required to close their doors, it's been such a hardship on the residents because they can't see family members. While we think that's been hard, it pales in comparison to what the staff has been doing.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt announced last week that all residents and staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities will be tested for COVID-19 this month. A supply of personal protective equipment, such as masks, gloves and surgical gowns, was distributed last week to all Oklahoma nursing homes.
Steven Buck, president and CEO of Care Providers Oklahoma, the trade association that represents skilled nursing facilities, said in late March that aggressive testing is key to quelling future outbreaks. An adequate supply of personal protective equipment also is critical, he said.
“The testing can't come soon enough ,” Brinkley said. “That needs to be done as soon as possible because if we truly want to control the spread, we have to know what's inside those buildings now.”
Marcia Foster, a resident in an Oklahoma City long-term care facility, has reached out to state and federal officials requesting personal protective equipment for the workers in her assisted living home. She also emailed Stitt, asking that residents and staff in long-term care facilities be tested, which they soon will.
All 42,000 Oklahomans working or living in longterm care facilities will be tested this month using a new saliva test, said Carter Kimble, the state's deputy secretary of health and mental health.
Quail Creek Senior Living has had no cases of COVID19, and Foster wants to keep it that way.
Foster hasn' t seen her daughter or church friends in more than six weeks, but she frequently texts them and they talk on the phone.
“I t's kind of a pain, but I'm very fortunate because we have good food, we have a nice place to live, we' re safe and, as far as I know, we don't have any COVID- 19 cases yet,” she said.