Ronald Harvey, an 83-year-old resident of Smithfield, Virginia, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2020. He was improving, but just as he was nearing the end of his radiation therapy treatments in August, he contracted COVID. He and his wife Anne, 81, believe they may have picked up the virus in a restaurant. “The staff was observing precautions,” he said, “but some of the patrons weren’t.”
When they both began running fevers, an ambulance was called and Ron was transported to the hospital, where he remained for two weeks. “I don’t remember anything about being in the hospital,” he says, “except for chest X-rays.” While Ron was recovering at Riverside, Anne convalesced at home, with neighbors leaving her food in the garage.
In the meantime, the Harveys’ daughter Rhonda coordinated everything with the doctors from her home in San Francisco. Anne says, “We cannot say enough good things about how well the medical staff responded to her. She was told that if they didn’t contact her with a report by 4:00 each day, that she should call and have them paged.”
While it was expected that Ron would need to be put on a ventilator, after he was administered Remdesivir and an antibiotic, he took a turn for the better. He left the hospital and moved to Riverside rehab, where he spent another two weeks. He was lonely in quarantine, but the staff helped him, reassuring him that they were there for him. His goal was to returnhome without needing oxygen, and he managed to do that.
At that point, the Riverside home health team took over. “They were all just as good as gold,” said Ron. “They were very thorough and made sure I had my medicine.” Ron wanted to be able to walk to the mailbox and back, and the physical therapist helped him reach that goal. “Before she left,” he adds, “I could walk around the block as well. She was a real big help.”
The cancer treatments he had already received when he developed COVID seemed to have gotten that under controlas well—he hasn’t needed any additional ones. He walks around the block three times a day now, which is just about a mile. “I don’t get winded,” he says, “but I’ll feel even better when we can go out to eat or take a trip.”
Ron says prayer and the Riverside staff brought him through. “I feel very fortunate. They were just terrific—I’d give them an A+.”
