Before the resident was exposed to COVID at dialysis, another significant event happened. I have forgotten if the mandate was federal or state, but the orders came down that every resident and every staff member had to be tested for COVID. This was during the very early stages that tests had become available. This was not an optional type of participation for the staff, especially not for the residents. All staff were told, either you take the test or you don’t work. We lost like 3 or 4 staff members when testing day came. This was a hard time for most of us, employees because a lot of our spouses and other family members were stuck at home without income coming in other than from “the essential worker’s pay.” It was a tough decision for those 3-4 employees.

Before testing day came, a lot of personal data was collected and sent to a random government agency. During this time, it seemed every government agency had some sort of part in COVID rules and policies. Data had to be provided for every resident and staff member that included date of birth, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, mother’s maiden names, etc. Diagnoses of the residents had to be submitted too. It was uncomfortable for me to provide so much information to some government agency who was going to do who knows what with it. But, later I learned privacy did not exist any longer for any of us when it came to the government. True they probably already had the info, but why did they need it all collected on an Excel spreadsheet.

Testing day finally came, dreadfully at the beehive. In walked about 15 gentleman who were collected from the state. All nursing home beehives were being visited by this type of group or the National Guard. According to others, we won the lottery by getting this group of individuals versus the National Guard. I really don’t think it truly mattered. Testing Day played out similarly at every beehive.

In nursing home beehives we have very specific rules and guidelines on how we treat the residents. It is the same across every single nursing home beehive in the nation. Interestingly, the nursing home has more policies, rules and regulations than any other industry, except for 1. The only industry that has more regulations are those that deal with nuclear energy. I have a feeling that during the pandemic, we may have been number 1. Some of those regulations are focused on what is called resident’s rights. Resident rights’s include being free from abuse and neglect as well as being able to refuse any treatment for any reason, at any time.

Testing Day began. First every employee had to line up single file, 6 feet apart. When your turn came, you were told to sit on your hands in a chair, tilt your head up, and be still and quiet. Then a hand was placed on your forehead and a long cotton swab was stuck up your nare, twisted, removed, then the other nare. Nare is a fancy word for nostril. It was not an experience anyone would ever want repeated, but sadly most of us had to experience this multiple times, but not as harshly. A lot of staff complained of headaches, eye pain, ear discomfort, for several weeks later. Some complained of these ailments for a few hours or days. Near the end of staff testing, a state surveyor walked into the beehive. The job of a state surveyor includes ensuring no violations of resident rights have occurred and to ensure proper care and treatment has been provided to the residents. The surveyor reported that this visit was to ensure testing was being performed per the mandate and that no abuse or violation of resident’s rights occur during the testing. What a joke that turned out be.

Finally, it was the residents’ turn to be tested. All residents that were able to walk or sit in a chair, were lined up single file, 6 feet apart. This was the first time the residents had seen each other in months. Well, the first time to see another resident besides their roommate. If they could not sit on their hands and such as the staff, they were assisted by the group of gentleman. Their hands, arms, legs were secured by the men, while the person whose role was to test, forcibly performed the cotton swab testing. We nicknamed this the brain scrape. The surveyor sat in the corner of this room, looking at his phone, and eventually he went for a walk outside. The surveyor never intervened, but he was helpful for the maintenance man in regards with a list of things he should fix on the exterior of the building.

When it came time to test the residents who could not tolerate the line or could not tolerate being out of bed, the group of gentlemen, went to their rooms and performed the testing sometimes very forcibly.

The whole thing was almost impossible to stand by and watch. The staff was not allowed to perform any of the testing. Our voices of, “This isn’t okay” was ignored. I wasn’t angry with the gentlemen. I understood that they were doing as they were told and they would probably rather be anywhere, but at the beehive that day. Most of the residents did not understand what was happening nor why it was happening. It broke our hearts to watch. It was extremely rough and unkind.

I learned that day that we could not abuse our residents, but the government could.