OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A metro senior living facility is at the tipping point of a COVID-19 breakout after one resident died and nearly the entire staff tested positive.
“We are taking care of her and she used to always take care of us,” Susan Abrams said.
Susan Abrams says she is being left in the dark while her 87-year-old mother fights COVID-19 alone at PARCway Post Acute Recovery Center in Oklahoma City.
“We don’t get any calls from nurses or administrators,” Abrams said. “We have to call them up.”
Tim tells News 4 his girlfriend works inside the nursing home.
She tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday and is back on the job Thursday.
Now, he and his entire family have to get tested for the virus.
“She had four COVID-19 patients and one died, so now she has three and runs the whole floor,” Tim said. “They are making her go to work. They told her to come in. She told me there’s no one else there to take care of the patients, and I said, ‘That’s not your problem.’”
According to the State Department of Health’s online count, PARCway has six positive cases and one death due to COVID-19.
But the nursing home told KFOR a different story as of Thursday.
An administrator admitted over the phone 80 percent of their staff tested positive, but adds they aren’t forcing them to work.
“Why would you allow them to come to work and pass them on to a vulnerable population?” KFOR Reporter Peyton Yager asked.
“That is what they are deciding to do,” PARCway said. “They are well aware. We have procedures in place to keep the positive with the positive and negative with the negative.”
But when we asked more questions, the woman hung up, and when we called back, we were placed on hold.
“She wants out and I can hear it, and if I could, I would go break her out,” Abrams said.
KFOR reached out to the Oklahoma State Department of Health to ask why the number online didn’t match what PARCway said.
A spokesperson tells News 4 there is a lag time, but asks all nursing home report numbers within 24 hours.