Coronavirus Update: Family Outraged, Claim More Could Have Been Done To Save Life Of Elderly Mother
SADDLE RIVER, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - The coronavirus death toll of elderly people dying in long-term care facilities continues to rise.
At Brighton Gardens Assisted Living home in Saddle River, N.J., a 90-year-old woman is now part of the growing number of senior home residents dying from COVID-19, reports CBS2' Cory James.
It is a devastating loss for Nancy Bush, who is preparing to say goodbye to her mother-in-law.
"She was amazing, she really was a hard strong lady," she said.
Bush's family is protecting the private life her mother-in-law lived by not sharing her name or photo, but they are speaking out about the lack of care they say she had leading up to her final days.
Bush tells CBS2 the facility caring for her family was not equipped with proper personal protective equipment or enough staff for its patients during the outbreak.
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"They would say there's nobody here to administer her medication, we don't have an LPN, we don't have a med tech, we don't have a nurse here," she said. "I'd be calling at midnight, 1:30, 2:30 2:00 in the morning to make sure she was getting what she needed."
Sunrise Corporation could not provide someone for CBS2 to speak with on-camera.
However, in response to those allegations, a spokesperson says they are providing equipment and adding additional staff to help.
While Bush is upset about what happened, she says the responsibility does not just fall on the company.
"Local, state and federal government have failed the assistant living facilities," she said.
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Throughout the week, CBS2 made several attempts to speak with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, hoping to learn more about the specific plan to help long-term care facilities housing elderly people in midst of this crisis, but his press secretary told us Friday he is not available.
New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said in an afternoon briefing that the solution gets harder as the number of COVID positive cases go up.
"what we're finding is a realistic plan on Monday becomes not very easy to carry out on Friday," she said. "So we're at the point now where we are going to every 375 of the homes to determine if they can cohort appropriately. It's becoming a daunting task, but we are continuing it."
Bush hopes that task will lead to new legislation and regulations, permanent changes she says will help places like Brighton Gardens whose slogan is "Here for you now. Here for you always." carry out its mission until the very end.
