CHICAGO _ Doreen Hall stood outside her mom's first-floor room window at Chateau Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Wednesday morning to get in a short visit _ even if it was from outside the building.
"I have to see my mom ... that's my little girl," said Hall, who parked her car along the entrance road to the facility and walked across the lawn to her mother's window.
Her mother, Phyllis Wade, is among the residents inside the Willowbrook nursing home where, officials announced Tuesday, 22 people have tested positive for the coronavirus. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported that six of the patients have been hospitalized, all are in isolation, and public health workers are tracing the people with whom they have been in contact.
Hall's mother has been a resident of the facility since having a stroke about a year ago. She tested negative for the virus, remained in good health and was undergoing a routine check every four hours for fever, Hall said. She is hoping her mother can come home in April, when she was scheduled to be released prior to the international outbreak of COVID-19.
Hall, who regularly visits her mother, said she changed the way she visits after being told last Friday that visitors were no longer allowed inside the building, even for patients who had not tested positive for the virus.
On Wednesday morning, she did what she's been doing, standing outside the window so her mother could see her. A nurse cracked the window open so the two could talk a bit.
"She saw me, she waved at me," the Bolingbrook woman said after the visit. "She said she's doing really well."
Hall said her mother is staying in her room, which she shares with another woman. All meals are brought to their rooms now, and any rehabilitation services such as physical therapy are done in the residents' rooms.
When she first learned of the ban on outside visitors, Hall was devastated, she said. Her mother is not good at using her cellphone to stay in touch, Hall said. But the window visits have helped keep some normalcy.
"At first it was really nerve-wracking," she said, adding she also gets updates on her mother through regular phone calls to the facility. "But as the days go by, you have to just get used to the scenario."
Like many others across the state, Hall, a paralegal, also finds herself working from home these days. She said that she's getting used to the new normal and that her faith has been a help.
"We just have to live in faith everyday and take the normal precautions," she said. "But we just have to live by faith. God's going to have to turn this around."
Hall also said the nursing home has been handling things well and keeps families informed as they call in.
Ron Nunziato, CEO of Extended Care LLC, a consulting firm that works with Chateau, issued a statement that the 150-bed nursing home is working with local, state and federal officials to address the cases, and is continuing measures to prevent further infection.
"Our staff continues to work diligently to ensure the health and welfare needs of our residents are being met," he wrote.
Citing the patients' privacy, he did not disclose any information about their health status.
