By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
OCEAN VIEW – Jane Chew stood next to her car outside the Autumn Lake Healthcare at Ocean View facility with a mask on her face and the glistening beginning of a tear in her eye.
Joined by her husband, Ron, she was there to say thanks to the nurses and staff members caring for her mother, a resident of the nursing home who is in her 90s. She has tested positive for COVID-19, Chew said.
“She’s getting the best care possible. I wanted to say thank you to the people who are looking after her,” she said.
On Wednesday, April 22, Chew joined a parking lot full of community members and people with loved ones in the facility for a noisy thank-you to the staff members as they changed shift. Many stayed in their cars, waving handmade signs, while some drove by in the parking lot or stood outside their cars and waved at the staff members gathered by the doorway.
“We’ve been doing it every day since Monday,” said Stephanie Noel, the director of nursing for the facility. Nurses and staff members have been under intense stress during the pandemic, working extra hours, wearing uncomfortable protective gear though their shifts.
“They’re working around the clock to keep our residents as safe and healthy as they possibly can,” Noel said. “We thought it would be a great motivator for our staff.
“I plan on doing this every single day,” she said Wednesday.
“It’s very difficult to keep your spirits up during this terrible pandemic. The team has really come through,” said Loraine Halliday, the director of business development for the facility who helped organize the drive-by event to support the staff. “They have shown such love and compassion toward all of our residents. We want to also send that message that they are supported by the community.”
Last Wednesday, members of the Ocean View Volunteer Fire Company also turned out to the afternoon event, adding sirens and the deafening horns on their fire trucks to the already-loud cacophony of car horns in the facility’s parking lot.
Noel and Halliday said the facility made it through March without a patient testing positive for COVID-19. That changed the week before the parking lot event, with the first positive at the facility. Since then, Noel said, several residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, and there have also been positives among the staff members.
Those staff members working with the diagnosed residents, including some Noel described as very, very sick, need to wear full personal protective gear at all times to prevent catching the virus or potentially spreading it more. While necessary, Noel said the face masks, gloves and clear plastic face shields become increasingly uncomfortable over time.
At full capacity, the facility can accommodate 120 people, with a staff of close to 150. According to Halliday, the facility is not at full capacity now, nor do they want it to be, because of the social distance requirements.
Like other elder care facilities, Autumn Lake stopped family visits in March. It’s been difficult for the residents as well, Noel said, with small comforts or distractions like special events, classes or even eating together now impossible.
She said the staff have tried to find new ways to keep the residents engaged, like bingo games in the hallway, with each resident at their door, or art projects.
Chew recently brought her mother’s great-grandchildren to her window so she could see them safely. The children were in the car at the event, some in the back of the vehicle, one blonde head looking out from the front seat.
The facility was decorated with chalk on the outside walls and many staff members had signs of their own. Facility administrator Eliezer Finkelstein stood outside with a bullhorn, announcing the names of staff members as they came in for their shifts. He was barely audible above the honking horns and the music blasting from the building.
Drivers took a loop around the parking lot, many holding signs that said thanks or described the health care workers as heroes.
The facility was built decades ago, originally opening as the Lutheran Home and more recently operating as Ocean View. The Autumn Lake Healthcare network bought the facility five years ago.
Halliday described the pandemic as being like fighting an invisible giant. The parking-lot event was a way for the community to safely show support for staff member.
“The patient’s safety comes first,” she said.
The residents have had to adjust to a new reality, Noel said.
“Ultimately, this is their home,” she said. “There are so many residents here, they want to hug us to say thanks. You have to tell them, we’re sorry but we can’t hug right now. They’re missing that human connection.”