DETROIT – Dennis Williams is haunted by the reminiscence of his mother, Wanda Parker, the window of a retirement home in Michigan.
She said she was asking for help.
It was the last time he saw his 68-year-old mother alive. She died of COVID-19 on 7 April, two days after being transferred to the hospital from the nursing and rehabilitation villages of Lapeer.
Williams said he remembered seeing facility workers without masks, gloves or other non-public protective devices (PPE) when he visited the window with his mother before his death. And he is aware of the particular decrease in COVID-19 statistics reported in other asylums in the region.
“They (the facilities) took precautions,” said the guy from Lapeer, Michigan. “And that’s what bothers me is that when we went to see Mom out the window and it wasn’t the workers’ fault – I had told several – they just told them they couldn’t wear the clothes.”
The mask and personal protective equipment “The Trick”, some of which, according to two former workers and their lawyers, had been donated through the net but kept away from staff.
Mr. Williams, your stepfather and your brother are suing the nursing home. The same goes for 3 former workers, all qualified practical nurses, who contracted the virus and claimed that the infirmary refused to control citizens or staff, allowed workers to stay in the house unless they had a fever and allowed workers to wear mask or personal protective equipment. the initial period. weeks after the Michigan pandemic in mid-March.
A former worker said a mask ripped his face through the nursing director, who told her she was scaring the patients.
Nineteen citizens of the 87-bed villages of Lapeer Nursing-Rehabilitation died from COVID-19, according to the knowledge of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. That’s more than part of the 34 COVID-19 deaths in Lapeer County to date.
On April 8, the day after Parker’s death, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs launched an investigation into the nursing home and declared “immediate danger” in a 37-page report. The state report supports allegations that control has prohibited dressing with PPE.
Last week, Villages of Lapeer provided this to USA TODAY’s Detroit Free Press:
“As the problems under investigation continue, we are in a position to comment. We can say that the villages of Lapeer have been and will continue to cooperate with the parties involved,” he said.
“Be assured that The Villages of Lapeer is committed to providing the best quality care to our citizens and their families, and to helping all of our staff in those difficult times.
Williams’ lawsuit also names Jill Vankerschaver, identified as the former director of nursing who resigned April 7. A woman who answered the phone for a telephone listing for Vankerschaver said: “I’m not interested. You have a nice day,” before hanging up on a Free Press reporter.
In a follow-up article the next day, after Parker’s circle of relatives expressed fear over his death, the station cited Davis as saying there was a shortage of PPE across the country.
“We weren’t careless, we were doing everything we could, I,” he told the TV channel.
No responses had been filed to the lawsuits, and no court dates had been set as of last Wednesday, according to Lapeer County Circuit Court.
Williams’ lawsuit and the lawsuit of Taylor Minifield and Tasha Harden, anyone from Flint, are looking for more than $1 million in damages. The third lawsuit, filed through Shanika Johnson of Flint, is filing more than $25,000.
“When you take off a person’s face mask … that is active, intentional, reckless,” Jim Rasor, one of the lawyers, told Free Press. “It’s not just a mistake. That’s not a mistake. This puts other people actively and recklessly in a terrible or fatal disease.”
Co-lawyer Andrew Laurila agreed, saying, “Here we had a refusal planned to allow other people to use PPE.”
Minifield said he saw the mask and the nursing director’s office.
She kept them there. They were never delivered. I asked her in the hallway, as if we could bring donated masks, and she said, ‘Oh, yes, I have many in my office.’ they were given for emergency purposes,” Harden recalls. I still don’t know what is considered an emergency, (because) it’s an emergency.”
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“He said you had to take this off because you scare the residents. The locals were asking us why we wore masks,” Minifield said. She said, ‘You have to take it off.’ She ripped my face off and threw it straight away, we got a trash can in our nurse’s cart, and she threw it in and went worried. And she said, ‘If you have something to say, you can get out of my building. ‘”
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Minifield said she told the director of nursing on March 25 that numerous residents under her care were showing severe symptoms of COVID-19.
The director of nursing told her “no one here has the virus,” the lawsuit alleges. When Minifield asked her supervisors what the plan was, she was told there was no intention of testing the residents “because they could not possibly have it,” according to the lawsuit.
Minifield came to paintings on March 28 feeling unhealthy, but was told he had to paint unless he had a fever. He called for ill health the next day and on April 3 he discovered he had the virus and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
Harden worked the week of March 23 with citizens he suspected of having the virus and “persistent upper fevers.” During the March 29 and 30 shifts, he interacted with about seven citizens with severe viral symptoms, and one of them vomited for 4 days, according to the trial.
She reported the conditions and her concerns, but was told there were no plans to test any of the residents “and they would remain in their present states.” Some of those patients died, according to the lawsuit.
Harden began to feel unwell on March 30 and stopped running on April 1. He went to the emergency room on April 6. Two days later, it gained the positive effects of COVID-19 control. Her daughter also tested positive and was hospitalized, according to the complaint.
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In her lawsuit, Johnson said she reported various respiratory ailments she experienced to her supervisors March 24, saying she felt she might have the virus. She “was expressly told by management that unless she had a fever – Plaintiff did not – she had to work.”
It also reported considerations for citizens with visual symptoms of the virus.
By March 31, Johnson’s symptoms and condition had worsened, which he informed management, but refused to return home ill. She worked for 90 minutes and asked a nurse to take important signals, prompting her to return home, according to the essay.
He claims that on his way home, Johnson’s respiratory disorders have become so severe that he stopped and called 911. She was taken to hospital by ambulance and the next day she had positive effects for virus control.
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In early April, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs investigated lapeer Nursing-Rehabilitation villages observations, interviews, and record reviews.
The status of his report, which declared “immediate danger.”
The report, which does not refer to workers or patients by name, states that the “immediate danger” began on March 24 when the former nursing director entered the facility’s treatment room and told an occupational therapist to remove the non-public protective mask and told her that she “would not wear the mask in her building.” This was a global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. “
The county health department reported on April 9 the facility had 22 residents with a positive COVID-19 test result. By April 13, there were 25 residents who tested positive for the virus, the report states.
It indicates that in an April 9 phone interview, the previous director of nursing said they had enough masks and PPE and “I was saving them.” She said the administrator said she’s keeping the masks on a table in the corner of her locked office.
She also said she told the administrator there were several staff members who were wearing masks because they didn’t want to get the virus.
“I told them that we are reviewing the times and that we do not want to alarm the public and that we seek to save those masks,” the director of nursing told a state investigator, according to the report. He also said he went to see one of the therapists and some staff members and told them that they did not want to use them and that they would not use them in construction “and the citizens were angry.”
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The report states the “immediate jeopardy” was abated on April 7 based on observation via virtual tour of the facility staff wearing the proper PPE, including protective facial masks, while interacting and caring for residents and on confirmation during interviews on April 14 that the facility had implemented seven measures to remove the “immediate jeopardy.”
The report concluded: “Although the immediate danger was eliminated on 7/4/20, the facility remained inconsistent with the scope and severity of the threat of minimal damage pending the facility’s ability to comply as verified by the National Agency. Array”
While the state of Michigan exceeded 100,000 cases of coronavirus, it recorded 6446 deaths from the virus on Friday. More than a third of the deaths, or 2,103 on Wednesday, concerned citizens of nursing homes.
Shortly after the first instances were announced in Michigan on March 10, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order restricting retirement homes.
The State Department of Health eased restrictions on visitors on June 30, but only for citizens who are in a serious or critical condition or in palliative care or who want someone to help them with their activities.
Whitmer reviewed his nursing home decisions, such as allowing COVID-19 patients to be treated at the same facilities as those who did not contract the virus. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it needs Michigan and three other Democrat-led states to provide knowledge about nursing homes and coronavirus deaths.
Federal to Whitmer: Return COVID-19, nursing home data. She rejects the answer.
In addition to the 19 resident deaths, lapeer rehabilitation and nursing villages recorded 47 resident cases and 16 cases of viruses, according to state long-term care data. There were no COVID-19-related deaths between Array
“All I hear is my mom saying, ‘Please help me,’ the last time I seen her through the window. Over and over again,” he said.
Wanda Parker arrived at the nursing home in November and only intended to stay about 12 days to rehabilitate. Shortly after his arrival, he suffered a seizure, lost the use of his legs and stayed in bed. He also suffered from diabetes and central disease, according to his family’s demand.
When he was younger, Williams said, his mother worked in some factories and shops. He enjoyed his children and grandchildren.
“I’ve never had anyone I’ve enjoyed so much,” Williams said.
Parker also enjoyed buying groceries and giving away pieces to others, Williams said, “You couldn’t move into your space without going out with a bag of stuff.” ‘
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Williams said he made a stopover with his mother in the nursing home. Before the virus, I brought him food and drinks. After the pandemic hit Michigan, he had to stop by her by the window.
“It’s terrible to see what happened, ” he said. “I feel guilty for letting this happen, but I don’t know what I just did.
Williams’ lawsuit states that the former director of nursing “severely underestimated situations in the villages (a) first verbal exchange with the Lapeer County Department of Health.” He indicated that on the first day the nursing home examined a resident was on April 3 and that there were thirteen deaths on 21 April.
Nursing home control, he says, ignored several weeks of internal reports of a danger to citizens and continued to deny citizens and continued to allow such harmful situations to persist in the face of serious disruption and imminent damage to many highs. at-risk individuals. citizens “like Parker.
Williams told the hospital that a nurse held the phone in her mother’s ear so everyone could say goodbye because they may not enter because of the virus.
He said the infirmary had not been communicated since his mother’s death. But he sent a bill for the month of April. It’s $1,300, said Laurila, one of Williams’ lawyers.
Williams said his mother was a tough woman and that the fact that she had physical fitness disorders didn’t mean she was disposable.