PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - Loved ones of residents at a veterans home in Pembroke Pines where one person died from complications due to the coronavirus and five people have tested positive said they’re concerned for their health and well-being.
Debbie Mann said her father, 89-year-old William Tetreault, served in the Korean War, but now he is facing a battle against the deadly virus at Alexander Nininger State Veterans Nursing Home in Pembroke Pines.
“He jumped out of airplanes. He was a paratrooper. His worst fear is dying by himself, because that’s something he brought home from the war with him,” said Mann during a phone interview on Tuesday.
Mann said the person who died at the nursing home was another resident at the hospital who was a friend of her father.
“You know, his buddy passed away with no family members there, and that was one of his biggest things, is he didn’t want to pass away alone,” she said, “and none of use can be there now. We miss him so hard.”
Family members whose loved ones live at the nursing home remain fearful since the resident died. As of April 4, another resident who tested positive for COVID-19 remains hospitalized.
Mann said she was told on Tuesday that her father had tested positive. On March 25, when the first exposure to the virus was reported at the nursing home, she said she reached out to the director.
“I asked him, ‘Why don’t you have professionals in there cleaning and sanitizing the nursing home so we don’t have an outbreak at the nursing home?'” she said. “He said that he has a cleaning solution that he got from the Health Department and that the staff is doing the cleaning.”
Access has been restricted at the facility. In an email, a spokesperson wrote, “Since the beginning of March, we’ve been screening all staff, visitors and vendors to our network of nursing homes, and on March 11 restricted all visitor access to our homes with the exception of those whose veteran is receiving end-of-life care.”
A woman who asked not to be identified said she’s worried about her husband, a Vietnam War veteran who has had several strokes. Like other family members, she’s concerned about what she doesn’t know, including whether he’s been tested.
“I have no idea. I mean, my husband is not very verbal, so it’s hard even when I call the facility for him to, like, speak to me,” she said.
Gilda Fowler said her fiancé, an Air Force veteran, has been tested, and now she just waits.
“My concern is that they didn’t work fast enough. Even if it turns out negative now, I know how that goes from watching television, that it could be positive five days from now,” she said. “I don’t know. You just hear about so many issues, especially with the nursing homes now, with this virus. There’s just no clear-cut answers. There may be later but not now.”
Mann said her father did have a high fever, but as of Tuesday night, it seems to have stabilized.
Officials with the nursing home, which is owned by the state, said they have tested 41 residents and staff, and they have 50 tests still to administer. They said they have employed a professional cleaning service to clean the facility, even though back in March they said staffers were doing the cleaning. They also said they feel like they currently have all the personal protective gear they need.
Anyone with questions and concerns about the coronavirus can call the Florida Department of Health’s 24-hour hotline at 1-866-779-6121.
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