BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
Ten people, including a former Stanford president, have died due to COVID-19 at Gordon Manor, a nursing home in Redwood City, the manager of the facility told the media yesterday.
One of those deaths had been retired Stanford President Donald Kennedy, who was the head of the university from 1980 to 1992. He was 88.
The deaths at Gordon Manor, at 1616 Gordon St., make up a quarter of San Mateo County’s deaths due to the virus.
Yesterday, the county reported that 41 county residents had died due to COVID-19, 32 of those reported were of people over the age of 70.
At least 10 other residents and seven employees have tested positive, Gordon Manor Manager Alisa Mallari Tu said. The 49-room facility just off Woodside Road specializes in care for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Manager devastated
“We are emotionally devastated by the reality of coronavirus in our community and in the many other senior and group communities like ours,” Mallari Tu said in a statement. “Our sole purpose through this extremely difficult time is to focus all of our efforts on the well-being of our beloved residents and their dear families, as well as our incredibly dedicated and courageous staff members who bravely, every day and every night, come in to work to care for our residents.”
County helping
Health officials from San Mateo County have been at the rest home since last week, making sure that the county’s health order regarding senior care facilities is being followed.
County health workers have been teaching workers about how to treat the virus and how important protective gear such as gowns, gloves and masks are. The county has also been teaching employees about COVID-19 and how to contain the virus.
Last Wednesday, San Mateo County Health Officer Dr. Scott Morrow put new requirements on senior living facilities in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading among the county’s elderly.
Morrow is requiring that assisted care and skilled nursing facilities screen all employees and residents are screened for fever and signs of respiratory illness. They’re also required to get personal protective equipment for employees and to tell the county within an hour of learning that a resident or employee has tested positive for COVID-19.
Residents and employees are also subject to mandatory COVID-19 testing and other measures in order for the virus to be contained, according to a statement from Morrow.
Five residents of Atria, a retirement home in Burlingame, tested positive for COVID-19 in March and in late March, two of them died, according to Atria Senior Vice President of Care Mike Gentry. Gentry said on April 10 that no other residents have gotten sick but one worker had contracted COVID-19.
Residents at Pacifica Nursing and Rehab in Pacifica were also reported to have tested positive late last month.
The people from the San Mateo County Health Department moved in on this home a week ago, according to the Post. What did they accomplish during the week? What are we paying them for, if people are dying on their watch?
My grandmother lived with us my whole life and passed away naturally at our home.
She was bedridden for 8 years, and I helped my my mom care for her until I was 16 (when she passed away naturally). When my parents grew elderly, my husband allowed me to move back in with them to care for them until they passed away (within a year of one another).
I had no help from any neighbors or friends in the community, back in the late 90’s. I remember going to Avenidas and asking them for assistance. They only offered to loan me a walker, which I had to get down out of a closet packed to the ceiling with tangled plain aluminum walkers. They charged me $30, and I returned it within 2 weeks after seeing it was not going to work out (no refund of my $30).
Looking back on all of this, I have no regrets about how I cared for my parents. I think I did the right thing. My parents loved, cared, and supported me. My grandmother loved me and helped my mom when my brother and I were born. I would never consider placing a parent in a nursing home – never. If a 14 year old can help an elderly 90 year old with walking to a commode or change bed pads, and showers – others should also be able to do this.
There must be a lot of grief about placing a parent in a nursing home.
People who do this will spend the rest of their lives living in their own private hell – with guilt.