While Michele Allen held her dying mother’s hand, a nurse came into the room.

“She was wonderful, touching my mother, checking her blood pressure and making her comfortable, but then I noticed something that shocked me. She was wearing no gloves and no face shield.”

Her mother passed away a few hours later at the Gardens of Easton nursing home in Easton and now Allen wants to make sure nursing homes have all the help they need.

Empty heart

Allen’s mother, Lynne Bachert, was a lifelong resident of Palmerton, where Allen still lives. Bachert was an art teacher in the Holy Trinity Pre-School and later founded the Watch Me Grow school in Palmerton. She taught crocheting and was a master knitter at the Yarn Studio in town.

“Mom lived an interesting and colorful life,” said Allen. “She later became a sales associate in a jewelry store before she retired 10 years ago.”

In June of 2018, Allen’s mother was admitted to the Gardens of Eden after suffering a stroke followed by an onset of dementia.

“Mom could tell she wasn’t home,” said Allen. “I was pleased with the care she received from the staff. They included her in activities, games and story times. She got her nails done and her hair fixed. Her husband played her favorite CDs and her grandkids came for visits.”

Allen’s tone of voice changed. “I knew my mother was never coming home again, but now I know she should never have died from the virus.”

Courage in the midst of calamity

Allen explained that the nursing home followed all the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines when the pandemic hit in early March. They shut down all visitations. Only workers could enter and exit the home. Hands were sanitized and washed.

She was allowed FaceTime calls to her mother, whose dementia had worsened.

“I received updates on Mom’s condition from the staff and was told a few patients had tested positive for the virus, but Mom was asymptomatic and untested until a doctor decided to check every patient on her floor. Two days later, she tested positive.”

Her mother was still asymptomatic through May 5, but then Allen was told her mother had labored breathing that night.

“They called me the next morning and said she didn’t have long and it was OK for me to come there.”

When she arrived at the special door for COVID-19, Allen was given a surgical gown, a mask, a face shield and gloves.

“As I walked to the first-floor lockdown, I was in shock by what I saw. Some nurses had no face shields. Some were wearing homemade masks. One was wearing what looked like a poncho you’d buy at the Dollar Store. Another was wearing a nightgown. I asked a nurse, ‘Where’s all the PPE equipment?’ She said, ‘We have very little. What we do have we save for the families and for some of our patients.’ When I left that day, I thought I should have made a video of these courageous and terribly unprotected people risking their lives for their patients.”

Allen contacted State Rep. Doyle Heffley, who “took great interest” because her mother was from Palmerton. Heffley told Allen he would report her story to the state representative from Northampton County.

The latest figures from the Pennsylvania Department of Health show that the facility has reported 97 cases of COVID-19, with 22 staff members who tested positive. There have been 22 deaths at the facility.

In Carbon County, Weatherwood has 58 cases and has reported 14 deaths. Mahoning Valley Nursing and Rehab has no reported cases. Hometown Nursing Home in Schuylkill County has less than five cases and no deaths.

In Monroe County, Pleasant Valley Manor has reported 95 cases, 24 staff members affected and 21 deaths.

Calls from the Times News to the nursing home about precautions and equipment were not returned.

Praise and anger

“The nurses, the housekeepers and the kitchen workers were very kind. They were all doing the best with what they had,” said Allen, “but my mother didn’t have to die before her time.”

Allen is angry at Gov. Tom Wolf and Dr. Rachel Levine, who until recently had mandated all nursing home patients who tested positive would be returned to their locations.

“Nearly 70% of all the virus deaths are nursing home patients. In my mother’s nursing home, six of the 30 COVID patients from her floor died in one day. It’s not the staff that should be blamed. Blame the state Department of Health. I realize that the officials are in over their heads and have never dealt with a pandemic before, but they seem more concerned with the public health than the population in nursing homes who are most at risk.”

Allen mentioned that Dr. Levine removed her mother from a personal care home before the policy was put in place that stated all patients testing positive had to go back.

“My mother had great care from wonderful people, but the problem of not enough protection and what seems like a glaring neglect and concern by state officials should be investigated,” Allen said.

Once again, Michele Allen changed the tone of her voice.

“At the end of the day, I lay my mother’s death at their feet.”