Life is frozen at a Georgia nursing home, walled off for four months by a virus that’s zeroed in on the old. And with the pandemic raging outside, there’s no telling when the thaw might come.
Southern Pines nursing home resident Wayne Swint gets a birthday visit from his mother, Clemittee Swint, in Warner Robins, Ga., on Friday, June 26, 2020. Face to face visits are not allowed but staff members help arrange window visits.
Like facilities nationwide, Southern Pines followed the federal government’s March 13 guidance to halt all visits, a move that spurred some backlash but seemed prescient as the news exploded of deadly outbreaks elsewhere. The home went six weeks with no infections at all. In between wash-and-style sessions, Floyd is summoned to a resident’s room where she’s asked about the status of a run to Dollar Tree for popcorn and word-search books. She hasn’t made the trip yet, but assures the woman she will, and the resident offers parting words of appreciation.Southern Pines is in central Georgia, about 20 miles south of Macon. About 70% of its population is female.
Bingo ends with no wins for Kay Gee, but when she gets back to her room, the midday news brings a happy update: A deal has been reached to bring a beloved sport back to her screen. Americans were first shaken to the arrival of COVID-19 when an outbreak raged at a nursing home outside Seattle. The dozens of deaths were shocking and the images of families paying visits through windows at once both peculiar and heartbreaking.
Shepard is being treated for ovarian cancer and underwent surgery just before the pandemic started. Her husband asked if she might go on leave, but she couldn’t consider it. “If we’re not here to do this who else is going to do it?” she asks after dropping lunch to Judy Morey in Room 107. “We love uneventful days,” says Tammie Williams, a 40-year-old CNA with thick pink eyeshadow, huge fake eyelashes, blue hair and a top with a fittingly colorful array of superheroes.
To move past this, to guard safety while acknowledging the rights of residents and their families and the toll of isolation, testing is key. With staff constantly coming and going — a key source of the virus in nursing homes — the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates the facilities, has called for weekly testing of employees. It is just a recommendation, though, and like most things in American health care, it’s viewed through a lens of money.
On the windowsill are remnants of his May 13 birthday — a balloon and a sign his family made — alongside a football, stuffed animals, a Bible and a sign that says, “I Love That You’re My Dad.”
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