COVID-19 death of woman from KCK facility leaves grieving family with many questions
Ronald Brandon got the call about his mother Sunday night.
Just two days before, his family had learned from the Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation center that she had tested positive for COVID-19. They had hoped that his mom, Mary Cooper, could fight the virus and be OK, just like she had done after two heart attacks, a stroke and seizure.
But this time, the 74-year-old couldn’t beat it. The virus that has infected so many others inside the center in Wyandotte County had made it hard for her to breathe on her own.
“We’re sorry,” the doctor told Brandon over the phone Sunday night. “... Two nurses were holding her hand and she passed.”
As of Thursday, Mary Cooper and six other residents from Riverbend have died after testing positive for COVID-19. Fifty-four other residents — including Cooper’s husband Steve, who has lived at the center for about four years — and eight employees have the coronavirus.
The 69 cases at the Kansas City, Kansas, facility appear to make it the largest COVID-19 outbreak in the state.
Brandon, the older of Cooper’s two sons, struggles with everything that’s played out in recent days. How he hadn’t seen his mom in weeks and didn’t get to tell her goodbye. And how he and his family and all other visitors had been kept out for weeks but the virus still got inside.
“She wasn’t allowed to leave her room and somehow she came down with it,” Brandon told The Star Wednesday night. “I just don’t know why they didn’t do better testing.
“There had to be some way to stop this from spreading in the building.”
Cory Schulte, Riverbend’s executive director, didn’t answer many of the questions The Star sent him. He instead emailed a statement earlier this week saying that everything he and his staff have done to manage “the challenges created by the Coronavirus” are guided by medical professionals and directives from federal and state health authorities.
“We are working very hard to do the right thing for our patients, their families, and our staff, every single day,” he said in the statement.
Inspection reports
Riverbend was last inspected by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Jan. 9, which is 11 days before the first reported coronavirus case in the United States.
The inspection resulted in 10 health citations, ranging from keeping expired medication on hand to food safety issues. The citations were labeled as “minimal harm or potential for actual harm.”
One citation in the report found a nurse changing a resident’s dressing for a wounded heel in a common area. The nurse threw the soiled dressing away in a trash can in the common area, according to the report.
The Jan. 9 report gave Riverbend two stars — meaning below average — out of CMS’ five-star rating system for health inspections. It gave Riverbend the same two-star score for staffing levels, which found that registered nurse hours per patient per day were 15 minutes, well below the national average of 41 minutes.
Riverbend has received no Medicare payment denials in the last three years. In May 2017, CMS fined Riverbend $9,725. That was the same day that an inspection report turned up a serious citation of “immediate jeopardy” to a resident.
The inspection found that a resident with dementia and a history of wandering had walked off the facility property, unbeknownst to Riverbend staff. That was despite the resident wearing a bracelet that was supposed to set off an alarm if the resident left the building on their own.
Regarding the coronavirus cases, health officials inside the Unified Government of Wyandotte County are working with Riverbend — which has roughly 130 residents and nearly 100 staffers — to identify others who have been exposed to stop the spread.
The facility has “cooperated completely,” said Elizabeth Groenweghe, the chief epidemiologist for the unified government
“We’re still working to identify the source of this outbreak,” she said. “There are a number of possibilities. ... Right now, our focus is really on prevention and control measures.”
The county health department learned of the outbreak on Friday, Groenweghe said, after residents tested positive.
It’s still unclear when residents first experienced symptoms, when they were tested and how long it took for those tests to come back.
Residents have been isolated and those who are sick are separated from those who are not. When symptoms arise, residents are tested for the virus, Groenweghe said.
A loving mother
Brandon’s mom had gone to the facility several weeks ago for rehab, part of her recovery after a recent stroke. She was supposed to come home on March 30.
But when family went to get her two Mondays ago, they were turned away.
“They wouldn’t let her come out of the place, they said she had pneumonia,” Brandon said.
Relatives still couldn’t visit because of the strict rules put in place due to the pandemic. But they called her regularly to check in.
On Friday, she didn’t answer the phone in her room.
“Finally a nurse goes back in there,” Brandon said. “They tell us she’s out of it, she’s having trouble breathing, she can’t use the phone.”
She was rushed to the hospital. That’s the same day, Brandon said, that his family was told his mom had tested positive for COVID-19.
By that evening, Wyandotte County officials had reported that 17 residents and two employees had confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Brandon said he’s learned about what’s happened at Riverbend from media reports and not the facility or its leaders.
“Riverbend was trying to keep it all quiet,” Brandon said.
On Wednesday, Cooper’s body was transported to a local funeral home. Brandon planned to go see her on Thursday and make plans for her service.
It’s still tough, he said, for his family, especially him and his brother, Michael, to know they won’t see her again.
“He said he’s been crying because she’s gone,” Brandon said of his brother. “My mom was a loving mother.
“She would give before she saw to her own needs. That went on for a lot of years. … She’d let bills go and she would take care of family.”
Since Cooper’s death, Brandon said his family has called Riverbend to see if the staff could tell his stepfather what happened to his wife. The family has been told that Steve Cooper is recovering from the virus.
“We asked them if they could explain it to him ... let him know she’s no longer around,” Brandon said. The family knew Steve would be calling and “asking around, ‘Where’s Mary Cooper?’”
The Star’s Kaitlyn Schwers and Kevin Hardy contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 12:26 PM.
