ManorCare resident speaks out after patients relocated from Riverside nursing home due to coronavirus
With the evacuation of 84 patients from a nursing home in Riverside due to dozens of positive cases there, many have been relocated to health centers in the Coachella Valley.
A barrage of ambulances brought 15 of the patients to ManorCare skilled nursing facility in Palm Desert. Nurses in masks and gowns wheeled patients inside on stretchers.
Another 28 patients were brought to the federal medical station at the county fairgrounds in Indio. 23 patients still have to be transported.
They were relocated from Magnolia Rehab and Nursing Center in Riverside, where nearly half the 84 residents and 16 employees tested positive. County health officials made the call to transfer them after they said most of the staff stopped showing up to work amid those positive cases.
"I am concerned this could rise to the level of the abandonment no matter how justified this could be," Riverside County Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser said. "I'm not going to speak for our legal system in determining whether criminal charges are appropriate."
In a statement to News Channel 3, a spokesperson for ManorCare said they took careful consideration before receiving the patients. They said isolation units were built with their own entrances to keep the patients separate from the rest of the center.
One elderly ManorCare patient spoke by phone to News Channel 3's Jake Ingrassia. He suffers from stage four COPD, a progressive lung disease, and is at high risk for coronavirus infection.
"Now it's a matter of how many of the patients that were transferred here are going to test positive," the patient said. Even as such, he said his worry right now is minimal.
"My room is closed, the door is closed and all the staff has taken all the necessary precautions – they're fully gowned, masks and they do the gloves and everything.
ManorCare said there are no positive cases there yet, but some patients are worried their own nurses could stop showing up for their shifts.
"If necessary, if I see staffing issues that I'm starting to worry about, I will leave here," he said.
Health officials said one hospice patient being relocated died. They said the person had not tested positive for coronavirus, and due to their pre-existing condition, officials believe death was imminent.
