‘Nobody calls you back.’ For families, no answers from N.J. nursing home where 38 died from coronavirus

Mary Lust, a resident of Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, has the COVID-19 virus, but her daughter says it is difficult to reach anyone at the nursing home.Ed Murray for NJ Advance Media | Photo of Mary Lust courtesy of her family

By Ted Sherman

Before the news of the mounting death toll at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, Amanda Schultz had already been growing increasingly concerned about the Sussex County nursing home caring for her mother.

Her mind clouded by the onslaught of Alzheimer’s Disease, 75-year-old Mary Lust initially found refuge at Andover’s Unit 1, a place that Schultz felt was a pleasant facility with a lot of activities for residents.

“The staff was always very nice. They would play Bingo. And every Sunday they had church services for the residents,” recalled Schultz.

But as her mother continued to deteriorate, Schultz said her mother was moved into the larger of the two facilities on the site, and it was like she had landed on another planet. It was more like a hospital, she said. There were so many wheelchairs jamming the corridors that she had fears over how anyone would even get out in the event of a fire, Schultz said. At the same time, it seemed there was never enough staff.

Now her mother is critically ill, has tested positive for COVID-19, and Schultz struggles to get anyone to respond to her calls.

“Nobody calls you back. They said they’ll take my name and number, and nobody calls me back,” she complained.

Other family members of residents at the troubled Andover nursing home also complain they are being left in the dark, even as many more continue to be stricken by the coronavirus.

State officials have their own questions, in the wake of last week’s startling disclosures that nursing home administrators stored at least 17 bodies in rooms set up as temporary morgues. The continuing coronavirus outbreak took the lives of at least 38 residents, according to Sussex County health officials. Two staff members have also died.

Inspectors from the state and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, visited the facility in Andover Township in northwestern New Jersey on Friday, said state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli, and issued a number of citations over infection control deficiencies.

Andover Subacute and Rehab, meanwhile, hired a lawyer, retaining former state Attorney General Christopher Porrino of Lowenstein Sandler to represent the facility.

In a statement on Sunday, Porrino said the nursing home looked forward to assisting with any review by the state of recent events, and “is confident that such review will confirm that the facility has been addressing the unprecedented challenges from this pandemic appropriately.”

One of the largest long-term care facilities in the state, Andover Subacute is licensed for 699 beds. It is owned in part by Chaim “Mutty” Scheinbaum through Lakewood-based Alliance Healthcare Holdings. Scheinbaum also has ownership stakes in nursing homes in Pennsauken and Cinnaminson in New Jersey, and two other nursing homes in Pennsylvania.

In an email last week, Scheinbaum blamed the storage of bodies and the number of deaths linked to the coronavirus to a “backup ... after hours holiday weekend issues" and “more-than-average deaths.”

Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, whose district includes Sussex County believes the number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus at Andover are far higher than reported.

Gottheimer said he does not believe the COVID-19 death toll is just 38 at the Andover facility.

“Clearly there was a massive outbreak there and it’s spreading like wildfire,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the issues at Andover have sparked a number of other facilities to seek help, with at least 45 facilities in his congressional district dealing with their own outbreaks that have critical staffing and protective equipment needs.

“This to me is a five-alarm fire,” he said on Sunday, pointing to the number of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes that continue to shoot up. In conversations with nursing home administrators, Gottheimer said many have expressed an urgent need for personnel and PPEs, including masks, shields and gowns. But his office has also heard separately from nursing home workers, who have questioned whether facilities are taking proper precautions against coronavirus infection and following infection control protocols.

Others, he said, have complained there has been a failure to reach out to those with loved ones in many long-term care facilities, including Andover.

Schultz said since the stories about Andover became national news, she has been unable to reach anyone at the nursing home unless they call her.

“Yesterday I called, and they said they were not putting anybody through,” she said.

Another relative of an Andover resident, David Beck said no one from the family has been able to reach anyone at the facility since last Wednesday, when the sister of his cousin, Arnold Kudrowitz, 74, received a call that her brother had tested positive for coronavirus.

“She tried to call a number of times and nobody answered. Nobody is telling her anything,” said Beck. “They’re not taking phone calls.”

He tried calling four times on Sunday afternoon, but said no one picked up the phone.

Gottheimer said there was been a complete failure by Andover’s administrators to communicate with families.

“People are scared. Families are scared. Residents are scared,” said the congressman. “You have to have good communications.”

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‘Nobody calls you back.’ For families, no answers from N.J. nursing home where 38 died from coronavirus