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Rescuing Her Father From an Assisted Living Facility in the Coronavirus Epicenter - YouTube
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The reason why I'm
calling you
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is because I got this really
distressing voicemail from you
[45]
yesterday,
[46]
and it sounded like you had just
read my story.
[49]
Yes. Someone sent the
story to me.
[52]
And I was so angry when I read
that story
[56]
because it was like, "Oh my God,
they lied to me."
[58]
They been knew that this virus
was in there.
[61]
They been new people tested
positive.
[64]
Why would they lie to me?
[66]
Why would they lie to me?
[67]
Why would you lie to me?
[74]
When the corona virus
landed in New York,
[77]
Natasha Roland said she was
immediately concerned for her
[80]
father, Willie Roland.
[82]
He's a diabetic. My dad
is not well.
[84]
At nursing homes and
assisted living facilities across
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the country,
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many desperate family members are
struggling to
[91]
learn the truth of what's
happening inside.
[96]
By late March, it became clear to
Natasha that her father would be
[99]
in the nation's hotspot.
[100]
Elmhurst Hospital had made
national news with its long line
[103]
of sick patients.
[106]
Tonight, a dramatic
spike in New York state's death toll
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from 385 to more than 500.
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The pandemic's Epicenter in the
U.S. right now may be Elmhurst
[116]
Hospital in Queens.
[118]
A block away, the Queens
Adult Care Center houses a mix of
[121]
residents with mental illness and the
elderly.
[126]
ProPublica has been reporting on
problems there since 2018.
[130]
And after a recent article, we
began hearing from several
[133]
residents and concerned family
members.
[135]
The last week of March, Natasha
called Michael Younger,
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the administrator of the center.
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She told him she would take her
father home if he felt that there
[143]
was a risk.
[145]
He assured me that my
dad will be fine.
[147]
Even told me that that's probably
the safest place for him is to
[150]
stay there.
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And in that conversation, I had
asked him, "Do you have any cases
[155]
of the virus now?"
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He told me no. I said, "You don't
have any cases?"
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I asked him again.
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He was like, "No, there was one
lady who tested positive,
[166]
but she was in a hospital, and we
believe she got it from the hospital."
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So, he led me to believe that the
lady was not there.
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Then my dad started calling me
saying he was not feeling well.
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Natasha thought maybe her
father's issues
[180]
were due to a recent change in
his medication.
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She said she tried to see him,
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But the facility was under state
instruction not to allow vistors.
[188]
Then I got a phone call
from Annetta.
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Katie: Annetta King-Simpson is
her father's girlfriend and also a resident.
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We met at Queens Adult
Care. We hit it off.
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I love him. He loves me, too.
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We have a relationship that is
off the hook.
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How this all started was, I
started noticing that he wasn't
[207]
feeling right.
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She said, "We keep
calling for them to check on your dad."
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"They're not coming down here. So
I checked his sugar myself."
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Why aren't they coming in and
checking up on my father's sugar?
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It wasn't until Saturday,
April 4,
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that she began to get a clearer
sense
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of what was going on that night.
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She said she spoke to a worker
there.
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And she said, "Look,
Natasha," she was like, "You need
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to get your father out of here."
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I said, "What's going on?"
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She said, "The nurses aides are
not going inside the room."
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I said, "There's no cases of the
virus in there,
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because that's what Michael said,
right?"
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She was like, "Girl, I don't want
to lose my job, but look."
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And I'm like, "What?"
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She said, "Come get your father.
Come get your dad."
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Then the worker began to
cry,
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saying she was scared to be at
the center herself,
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but she needed to earn money for
her family,
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who she quarantined herself away
from.
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Ambulances were at the home
constantly, the worker told her
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and the administration wasn't
saying which residents were sick.
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Meanwhile, residents continue to
wander in and out,
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even panhandling among the
patients waiting outside the
[283]
hospital.
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Natasha: And I was like, "Okay,
I'm gonna come and get my dad."
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Now, at this time, I'm just how
much talking about just bringing
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him home with me.
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I'm still thinking my dad is not
sick with no virus.
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I know it's a lot.
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Natasha said she
immediately began making
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arrangements for her father to
come home.
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She called and asked the staff to
prepare his medications for his
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departure.
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She would be there Sunday to pick
him up.
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But on Sunday, a worker said they
couldn't prepare everything on
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such short notice.
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They weren't adequately staffed.
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The Queen's Adult Care Center
told us they've been taking precautions
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to ensure the well being of
residents.
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They said Natasha's allegations
are baseless,
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and that they spoke with her
several times
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and offered to take her father to
the hospital. But he refused.
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The worker Natasha spoke with now
says she never urged her to get her dad.
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or that aides in the home weren't
checking on residents.
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Only the conditions in the home
were dire.
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A crisis communications
consultant hired by the center
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argued that no one had died of
the coronavirus there
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because they hadn't died on the
grounds of the facility.
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Natasha: Two people on the third
floor, one died and one tested
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positive for the virus.
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In fact, a New York City
councilman told us the city's
[373]
Health Department said
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that a dozen residents had died
by April 15.
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Ah, everything got out
of control.
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And the next thing I knew people
were dying in there like you
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would not believe.
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They never quarantined
Annetta.
[386]
One of them was in a room right
across from her.
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Then I started noticing
Willie was like breathing funny.
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And that happened at around one
or two o'clock in the morning,
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and I had to call his daughter.
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And at that point is
when me and my brother got up,
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got dressed.
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He was like, "We gotta go get him
now."
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Because when you call the
ambulance they only wanted to
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take him to Elmhurst Hospital,
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and I was not gonna let my dad go
to the hospital.
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So I went to that facility.
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And mind you, through this whole
time,
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they're like, "You can't come
inside the facility."
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They're saying she
couldn't come in.
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I tried.
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How did we get out? She said,
"Annetta, I'm coming in
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because I don't see nobody at the
desk right this second."
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"I'm coming to get my father."
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And so how did that feel
for you?
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Because you'd been on the phone
with the administrator and he's
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telling you everything's fine.
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It made me feel like I
didn't do what I was supposed to
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do for my dad
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because I believed them.
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So, I'm like, "Did I mess this
up?"
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You know, but I'm calling and
they're telling me my dad is
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okay.
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They're telling me that my
father's safe.
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What's crazy about this is that
when I saw my dad,
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my dad had, you know, lost so
much weight that your eyes look
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like it's popping out of your
head?
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It tore me up. I didn't even
think no more.
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I'm just like in there, grabbing
my dad like getting his clothes on.
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Not one aide, no nurses aide, was
there helping my dad,
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the lady Annetta was helping my
dad.
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I visibly saw Roland
going down in front of my face.
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He couldn't breathe.
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And I kept calling the desk
telling them to come upstairs
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with his medicine
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and they were not coming. They
weren't coming.
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I guess they were afraid, you
know.
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And a two o'clock in the morning,
they took him to New York
[495]
Presbyterian.
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Doctors there told
Natasha, she saved his life.
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After hearing my story,
they said they're gonna work with
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me to make sure he doesn't go
back there.
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That morning, Annetta calls me,
and she's like, "I can't breathe, baby."
[510]
She was like, "I'm gonna call the
ambulance."
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Annetta collapsed on the
floor of the adult home.
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They called the
ambulance.
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And right now I am at Jacob
Javits Center in the makeshift
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hospital by the Army and Navy.
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I don't know what happened to
turn the place around.
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And it's not just COVID.
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This has been coming and we just
didn't take notice to it.
[533]
Because Roland and I, we had each
other.
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We still have each other.
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But everything that they was
supposed to be doing, I was doing
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because I care.
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These residents need to
go somewhere where people care
[546]
about them.
[548]
That place needs to go.
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