Host Intro: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 8 out of 10 COVID-related deaths since the start of the pandemic have been adults aged 65 and older. Nursing homes were hit hard when New York became the epicenter of the outbreak in the spring. Wen Lin has more on how local nursing homes are doing everything they can to keep the virus in check.
ACT: feeding frenzy etc. (Governor Cuomo Press Conference)
TRACK: That was Governor Andrew Cuomo speaking in an late-April Press conference. Today I’m here with Kevin Chiu, a long time employee at The Phoenix Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Brooklyn, New York. As someone whose job is to provide recreation for the patients, his focus these days is on helping them feel connected to the world again.
ACT: Ever since COVID hit, we haven’t really had the opportunity to do things with them. So a lot of what we do now is help the patients contact their family members, because family members aren’t able to actually enter the nursing homes because of the fear that they might actually spread it to the patients.
TRACK: Because these residents are so vulnerable to COVID, Phoenix is taking serious precautions when it comes to keeping the virus in check.
ACT: We constantly have to wear PPE everywhere we go, which stands for Personal Protective Equipment. So we talk about our mask, our faceshield, our gowns, our gloves, hairnet, even shoe protectors. It’s gotten to the point where people are covering up so much that you do even recognize who the person is anymore.
TRACK: Despite all this, the workers in Phoenix are no strangers to seeing death on a daily basis.
ACT: Probably the most terrifying thing is just watching a lot of the patients pass away, because no matter how cautious you could be, it’s hard to really contain the virus. I’ve watched a lot of patients I’ve known, or even patients I didn’t know. I’ve seen them be rolled out in body bags or stretchers, and it is not an easy sight to stomach.
TRACK: Now that cases are in New York, Phoenix is continuing to take precautions to make sure death rates don’t go up again. For Baruch College, this is Wen Lin in Brooklyn.