Manatee Springs resident died the day after her COVID-19 results came in, family says
Jim Foster had waited four long months for his wife to return to his side. A heartbreaking development means she’ll never get the chance.
“My dad absolutely adored her. She was everything to him. He’s just been waiting so they could be together. This could be what takes my father. They’ve been together 40 years,“ said LeAnn Foster, who shared details of her stepmother’s death with the Bradenton Herald on Thursday afternoon.
COVID-19 claimed Betty Foster’s life Wednesday morning, according to the Foster family. The 83-year-old Bradenton resident was recuperating at Manatee Springs Rehabilitation Center, 5627 Ninth St. E., Bradenton before she died. Officials at Manatee Springs revealed Friday that nearly half of their residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 crisis continues to be extremely challenging for people of all ages, but especially the elderly, many of whom have underlying medical conditions,” Manatee Springs Administrator Steve Oelfke wrote in a prepared statement Friday afternoon.
“Ms. Foster did not have contact with any known COVID-19 patient,” Oelfke added. “The facility was following all recommendations from CDC, the state Department of Health, as well as the local department of health.”
LeAnn, who works as a director of nursing at a long-term care facility in Indiana, believes the facility is hiding a host of coronavirus infections. Even after Betty’s death at the hospital, the Foster family hasn’t heard an update on what happened from the staff at Manatee Springs, she said.
“I know what the rules are and these people are covering up something big-time, and she died,” LeAnn Foster said.
After two weeks of what she described as poor communication regarding her stepmother’s condition and the COVID-19 situation from staff at Manatee Springs, LeAnn filed a complaint with Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration last week. The next day, she said, state officials tested every staff member and resident at the facility.
Of the 107 residents tested, 51 of them tested positive, according to Oelfke. Nine of the positive patients had been previously tested for COVID-19 at the hospital. Thirty of the residents are asymptomatic and five of them have died.
“A separate isolation unit has been created for all COVID-positive residents,” Oelfke confirmed.
“They should have been transparent from the beginning,” LeAnn noted. “Isn’t there irony there that I make the complaint Tuesday and then they start testing all their staff and residents the next day?”
It was too late for Betty Foster, who had already been dealing with symptoms of the novel coronavirus, including shortness of breath and a persistent cough. According to LeAnn, Betty was exposed to one of the known positive patients at Manatee Springs.
On Tuesday, the day Betty was taken to the hospital with hypoxia, her family learned that she had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. She died the next day.
As of May 1, the Florida Department of Health had already confirmed that two residents have died from COVID-19 at Manatee Springs. The rehab center is among the list of local long-term care facilities with confirmed cases of the coronavirus that DOH officials released in April.
Now, the Foster family is wondering why the facility wasn’t tested sooner, especially after being told that at least five staff members had tested positive.
“It’s just common sense,” said Bradenton resident Douglas Foster, LeAnn’s brother. “If you found out you had infected staff, you would think they would test everyone else to see if anyone else is infected.”
“The fact that a nursing home can’t get test kits is mind-boggling,” he added.
On Friday, Oelfke pointed to a nationwide shortage of testing kits as the reason why Betty Foster, and other Manatee Springs patients, hadn’t been tested sooner.
“The difficulties in obtaining testing kits is just one of the many obstacles long-term-care facilities have encountered in coping with this new reality, but we are seeing improvements in the supply,” he said in a statement.
As LeAnn Foster pleaded with DOH for assistance getting her stepmother a test, their advice, she said, was useless.
“I begged them to test my stepmother, and do you know what they told me? They said it’d be best if I put her in a car and try one of these drive-thru sites,” she explained. “I’m in Indiana. Are you kidding me?”
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
