Roaring River Health & Rehab fighting COVID-19 outbreak
October 21, 2020
Above, Rosie Roberts (right) waves to her mother, Debbie Periman, through the front door at Roaring River Health Care & Rehab in Cassville. Roberts is not allowed to go inside the facility, due to positive cases of COVID-19 reported among staff and residents. Photo by Caden Swearingen.
Caden Swearingen & Sheila Harris
“I feel like there is no safe place right now,” said Rosie Roberts, of Cassville, whose mother, Debbie Periman, is a resident of Roaring River Health Care & Rehab in Cassville.
“I want to be with my mom during these hard times,” she said, referring to the COVID-19 outbreak within the facility, plus her mother’s recent health scare, “but I have to settle for seeing her through the glass, instead of going inside to hug her and tell her how much I miss her.”
Roberts received a phone call from her brother on October 17 notifying her that their mother, a resident of Roaring River Health & Rehab, was unresponsive and that an ambulance had been summoned. After arriving at the facility, Roberts called the nurse from inside her car and was told that she couldn’t enter the building due to COVID-19 concerns.
When ambulance personnel arrived, they were greeted by an employee who let them know that Periman had become responsive and their services were no longer needed. The employee told Roberts that the doctor felt it would be safer for Periman to shelter in place, rather than be transported to a hospital.
“I’m confused,” said Roberts. “I’m not sure why, one minute, an ambulance is necessary, but the next minute, it’s not. I think they should communicate a little better with families on the condition of their loved ones.”
Roberts is also concerned about the transmission of COVID-19 within the healthcare facility, where the health department reported 11 positive cases last week, a number that Roberts was unable to glean from the facility firsthand.
“I learned of the positive cases within Roaring River Health & Rehab the same way everyone was else did,” she said. “From the health department, as reported by the newspaper.”
“In the short amount of time I visited with my mother through the glass, I saw employees go from one resident’s room to another without changing any of their protective gear except for their gloves,” she said.
Although the Barry County Health Department reported 11 positive cases of COVID-19 within the healthcare facility last week, a person familiar with the situation, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, alleged that the actual number of cases was much higher than that reported by the health department.
“We’re extremely under-staffed and short on protective apparel,” the same source said.
Another anonymous source alleges that, due to the staff shortage, employees are forced to work in spite of testing positive for the virus, and that, in some cases, the positive results were not being promptly reported to the health department, as required by law.
“The residents,” the source said, “do not feel safe. It’s affecting them mentally.”
According to Barry County Health Department Administrator, Roger Brock, the frequency of COVID-19 testing within residential care facilities depends on the positivity rate within the county.
“With a positivity rate between five and ten percent, as Barry County’s has been,” he said, “nursing homes must conduct a nasopharyngeal test once a week. If the postivity rate rises above ten percent, residents and staff must be tested twice a week,” Brock said.
According to the newly-released October 20 situational update from The Barry County Health Department and Office of Emergency Management, Barry County’s rate of positivity is currently at 7.24 percent, up from last week’s 6.18 percent.
When asked, Christine Grizzle, administrator for Roaring River Health & Rehab, told The Barry County Advertiser that she was not at liberty to disclose the number of residents diagnosed with COVID-19, but that she would send an email containing more information. The promised email was not forthcoming, nor were further telephone calls answered.
The new October 20 situational update from The Barry County Health Department indicates that the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 within Roaring River Health & Rehab has risen from 11 last week, to 44 this week.
“I feel like there is no safe place right now,” said Rosie Roberts, of Cassville, whose mother, Debbie Periman, is a resident of Roaring River Health Care & Rehab in Cassville.
“I want to be with my mom during these hard times,” she said, referring to the COVID-19 outbreak within the facility, plus her mother’s recent health scare, “but I have to settle for seeing her through the glass, instead of going inside to hug her and tell her how much I miss her.”
Roberts received a phone call from her brother on October 17 notifying her that their mother, a resident of Roaring River Health & Rehab, was unresponsive and that an ambulance had been summoned. After arriving at the facility, Roberts called the nurse from inside her car and was told that she couldn’t enter the building due to COVID-19 concerns.
When ambulance personnel arrived, they were greeted by an employee who let them know that Periman had become responsive and their services were no longer needed. The employee told Roberts that the doctor felt it would be safer for Periman to shelter in place, rather than be transported to a hospital.
“I’m confused,” said Roberts. “I’m not sure why, one minute, an ambulance is necessary, but the next minute, it’s not. I think they should communicate a little better with families on the condition of their loved ones.”
Roberts is also concerned about the transmission of COVID-19 within the healthcare facility, where the health department reported 11 positive cases last week, a number that Roberts was unable to glean from the facility firsthand.
“I learned of the positive cases within Roaring River Health & Rehab the same way everyone was else did,” she said. “From the health department, as reported by the newspaper.”
“In the short amount of time I visited with my mother through the glass, I saw employees go from one resident’s room to another without changing any of their protective gear except for their gloves,” she said.
Although the Barry County Health Department reported 11 positive cases of COVID-19 within the healthcare facility last week, a person familiar with the situation, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, alleged that the actual number of cases was much higher than that reported by the health department.
“We’re extremely under-staffed and short on protective apparel,” the same source said.
Another anonymous source alleges that, due to the staff shortage, employees are forced to work in spite of testing positive for the virus, and that, in some cases, the positive results were not being promptly reported to the health department, as required by law.
“The residents,” the source said, “do not feel safe. It’s affecting them mentally.”
According to Barry County Health Department Administrator, Roger Brock, the frequency of COVID-19 testing within residential care facilities depends on the positivity rate within the county.
“With a positivity rate between five and ten percent, as Barry County’s has been,” he said, “nursing homes must conduct a nasopharyngeal test once a week. If the postivity rate rises above ten percent, residents and staff must be tested twice a week,” Brock said.
According to the newly-released October 20 situational update from The Barry County Health Department and Office of Emergency Management, Barry County’s rate of positivity is currently at 7.24 percent, up from last week’s 6.18 percent.
When asked, Christine Grizzle, administrator for Roaring River Health & Rehab, told The Barry County Advertiser that she was not at liberty to disclose the number of residents diagnosed with COVID-19, but that she would send an email containing more information. The promised email was not forthcoming, nor were further telephone calls answered.
The new October 20 situational update from The Barry County Health Department indicates that the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 within Roaring River Health & Rehab has risen from 11 last week, to 44 this week.
South Barry County Ambulance personnel in front of Roaring River Health Care & Rehab in Cassville. Photo by Caden Swearingen.
