Wrenn, who typically visited her mother four or five times a week, felt separated and frustrated.
“I remember one time she said, ’Why can’t you come visit me?’” Wrenn recalled. “Her memory was real bad.”
Wrenn tried to explain the circumstances caused by the coronavirus.
Then her mother asked: “What did I do wrong?”
Shoemaker, the eldest of nine siblings and raised on a Darke County farm during The Great Depression, turned 100 on March 15, but her birthday party, which she had anticipated for a full year, was canceled. Four months later, she was hospitalized, then placed in Hospice care, where she died July 30 of double pneumonia, apparently caused by COVID-19, her daughter said.
“She died alone,” said Wrenn, 71, who lives in Centerville. “That’s real sad. She gave up living. She got very, very depressed.”
This scenario has been repeated across the country after nursing homes closed their doors to visitors in hopes of trying to stop from the coronavirus from spreading. Even though the residents have been isolated, residents and staff members continue to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
Bob Applebaum, director of the Ohio Long Term Care Research Project at Miami University’s Scripps Gerontology Center, said the coronavirus has been “absolutely devastating” to the nursing home population.
He said about 75,000 Ohioans live in skilled care nursing homes, and another 35,000 are in assisted living facilities and 35,000 live in continuing care retirement communities where people typically live independently in houses or apartments.
‘The isolation is very, very difficult on a lot of people,” he said. “It’s horrible.”
He said while long-term facilities have tried to reduce the spread by isolating their residents, staff members are carrying the virus to work.
He’s not sure what facilities can do.
“It’s like a Catch 22,” he said. “There are no good options.”
In Ohio, 10,940 long-term care facility residents and 6,167 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus since April 15, according to the most recent data from the Ohio Department of Health. Of those, 2,262 have died, meaning 55 percent of the 4,076 coronavirus deaths in Ohio have occurred in long-term care facilities.
There have been 56 deaths in Montgomery County long-term care facilities, 32 in Butler, 23 in Warren, eight in Clark and one in Warren and Preble, according to the ODH.
In Montgomery County, 396 residents and 271 staff members have tested positive, with Friendship Village in Dayton (48 residents, 22 staff), Heartland of Miamisburg (38 residents, 15 staff) and St. Leonard Nursing Home in Centerville (31 residents, 21 staff) leading the way.
Greene County is unique in more staff members than residents have tested positive. There have been 14 residents and 37 staff with Trinity of Beavercreek the most with nine residents, 10 staff.
Oakwood Village in Springfield has the most cases in Clark County. It has reported 50 cases, including 26 for residents and 24 for staff. The county has reported 81 residents and 67 staff cases.
Butler County has reported 226 residents and 92 staff members tested positive. The two Hawthorn Glen facilities, an assisted living and a nursing home, have reported 47 residents and 13 staff members, which represents 19 percent of the county’s total cases.
Warren County has seen 108 residents and 70 staff members test positive. Cedarview Nursing Home in Lebanon has reported the most cases in the county with 46 residents and 18 staff.
Preble County’s three facilities have reported 52 residents and 26 staff members with coronavirus, while Greenbriar Nursing Center in Eaton has reported 45 residents and 21 staff members.
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