Fighting the coronavirus in assisted-living facilities demands care and creativity

Lauren A. Reavis Ware badly needed a thermometer, but panic buyers had already scoured the shelves.

She needed to be resourceful, so she went to Walmart’s baby section. An ear thermometer and a whole bunch of probe covers awaited her, shining like a treasure.

Now she could take the temperature of people entering and leaving the assisted-living facility that she manages nearby.

In the age of the coronavirus, that was a necessity. For the protection of the residents, staff and families could no longer move freely through the doors.

As the chief operating officer of RenCare Solutions, Reavis Ware, 33, oversees four facilities housing seniors: Tabor Commons Assisted Living, Jonas Ridge Assisted Living, Indian River Assisted Living and Yadkin Valley Senior Living.

Long-term care facilities across the state have experienced dozens of outbreaks, and Tabor Commons in Columbus County is one of them, reporting 48 cases and two deaths as of May 8, according to a report from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Keeping the facilities’ residents and staff safe while a highly contagious virus is circulating has demanded all of her resourcefulness.

While assisted-living facilities take care of people especially vulnerable to sickness, they did not get top priority for supplies to defend against the coronavirus.

When masks were hard to get, Reavis Ware turned to Facebook to ask for donations.

When hand sanitizer was sold out, she called distillery after distillery.

On a Tuesday afternoon in April, Reavis Ware held a conference call about inventory. Administrators told her they had enough masks and sanitizer for 96 hours. Emergency managers said they now needed enough to last eight weeks.

After the call, Reavis Ware listened while a resident laid out her complaint: She didn’t like moving rooms.

Following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the facility had prepared isolation rooms in case of infection. That caused some residents to be moved around.

Reavis Ware sympathized with the resident’s discomfort and anxiety. It had been weeks since she herself had gotten sound sleep. Scary news and regulatory changes poured constantly into her email inbox.

In early April, a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. It was news she had been dreading.

Other staff members got tested because they worried they had been exposed. Some residents were tested, too.

Reavis Ware had to figure out new leave policies. The payroll codes had to be adjusted.

Workers had to be found to fill in for staff who stayed home while waiting for their test results. An administrator was temporarily put to work distributing medication.

Later in the month, there was more bad news. Three residents tested positive. That it seemed practically inevitable made the news no less painful.

“People see it on TV, and it’s numbers and a building,” Reavis Ware said.

“They see these big numbers — 60 people in a building. But those are 60 people that our staff love on every day, that we love on every day.”

Reavis Ware is relying on her mother, Karen Boyles, who is a nurse consultant, and her own background as a registered nurse as she girds herself for a marathon battle against the virus.

“I just don’t know that anyone in long-term care is going to be able to breathe until we have some kind of vaccine,” she said.

This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 8:00 AM.