The Hillsdale County Medical Care Facility, recognized as one of the best nursing homes in the state last year, has been challenged but encouraged by dealing with COVID-19.
“The virus seemed worse at the beginning, because of the comorbidities,” said Terry Esterline, head administrator at HCMCF. The staff said the facility was more affected by the COVID-19 than other nursing homes in the area because of asymptomatic transmission from patients, staff, or family. Since the virus was first detected in the U.S., HCMCF has had 51 residents test positive, 31 of whom recovered, and 51 staff members testing positive, but all of whom recovered.
“Now what we’re seeing is more asymptomatic positives, which, without serial testing, we would never know if someone is positive,” Esterline said. “That’s one of the biggest changes since the start of the pandemic. Originally no serial testing was needed, but now weekly tests on staff are required. We have a facial recognition and temperature check at the door, it looks like something out of Star Trek.”
If a staff member’s temperature reads above 100, he or she is not allowed into the facility. There are no positive cases at the facility currently, but if a staff member tests positive, the patients must be tested weekly.
The HCMCF has also set up an isolation unit, which is separated from the main facility with a different entrance and staff.
“The staff are our rock stars,” Esterline said. “They’re confronted with the idea of people passing who they’ve taken care of for years.”
One of the challenges the facility is dealing with is the similarity of COVID-19 symptoms and more common illnesses.
“We almost feel like we’re giving a knee-jerk reaction when we hear a cough,” Esterline said.
Another challenge has been the financial strain on the facility created by the price gouging of personal protective equipment.
“Before all of this, we would be paying less than $2 for a box of 50 masks, but during this, there was a point where we were paying more than $46 for that same box of masks,” Esterline said. “Another challenge is we’re dealing with three different agencies that are telling us what to do: the federal government, the state government, and the local government. But their rules don’t agree, so which rules do we follow?”
Even though they cannot hold group activities, Laurie Newell, life enrichment director at the HCMCF for 33 years, has hosted smaller hall activities, like bingo, where residents stay in the doorways of their rooms in order to socially distance. Staff members have also been able to continue some of the things the patients love, including happy hour, which occurs every few weeks.
The staff visit the residents daily, which was something they did before the lockdown, but Newell says it’s much more important now just to see how they’re feeling and talk through anything.
“Some of the experiences the patients have had during their life have allowed them to help our staff,” she said. “It’s really become a family.”
Newell said she has faced challenges when trying to make life continue as normal for the residents. While visitors are not allowed in the building, new “visit” methods have helped residents see loved ones.
The facility is using iPads to conduct video calls with patients’ families, as well as allowing “window chats.”
“A patient will come to a window in one of the dining rooms or the lobby, and the family will stand outside the window and they’ll talk through their phones.”
Newell said the video calls and window chats happen about 40 times a day.
“We’ve had families from Florida and California call in to see their loved ones,” she said. “It’s really been a gift.”
One resident turned 105 during the lockdown, so the staff helped orchestrate a drive-through parade of about 25 cars full of friends and families to wish her happy birthday.
“It’s important for them to know their community is behind them,” Newell said.
Esterline said the guidelines for re-opening nursing homes in Michigan are an encouraging sign, and “hopefully within a week or two, we’ll see a lightening on restrictions,” Esterline said.
