COVID-19 ‘was just too much.’ Family: Lexington man dies after home health visit
A family who had to use FaceTime to say goodbye to a Lexington man who died of COVID-19 Tuesday said that three people in their household caught the illness after being visited by a home healthcare physical therapist.
Stanley Lee Buckler, 71, suffered a severe stroke in December that paralyzed the left side of his body. He was visited by a physical therapist about four weeks ago, Buckler’s daughter-in-law Savannah Raye Hash said. About six days later, Buckler’s wife got a call from the home health company saying that the physical therapist had tested positive for COVID-19, Hash said.
Buckler’s daughter and wife were also in the house when the physical therapist visited and caught the illness, Hash said. Buckler was admitted to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital’s intensive care unit, she said.
“He spent the next . . . weeks alone in ICU on life support. Fighting for his life. He put up one heck of a fight too (which was just how he was),” Hash said in a Facebook post. “We’ve always said he was strong as hickory because of all he has conquered, but the disease was just too much for his body.”
Buckler’s wife, son and daughter said their goodbyes to him through FaceTime before the ventilator was turned off Tuesday, Hash said. He died about an hour later.
The loss has been devastating for the family. Buckler was a father to three daughters and two sons, and had multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Hash said. He was a kind soul who thought his family “hung the moon,” Hash said.
“This has been a nightmare that we just can’t wake up from,” Hash said. “I never thought it would hit my family, especially to the extent that it has. It’s just the most horrific thing I’ve ever had to go through. To watch my family go through it and not be able to be with my family is so hard. I just want to be with my mother-in-law and tell her we’ll get through it together, but all I have is FaceTime. That’s what hurts the most is that we can’t be there for each other.”
Buckler was a strong man who overcame a lot in his life, including a severe crash that broke nearly every bone in his face about 25 years ago, and a transplant after his kidney started failing about eight years ago. He was originally from Paris, Ky.
Buckler’s dog, a small Yorkie named Zoey, has been frantically searching for him since he left for the hospital, Hash said.
The company the physical therapist works for is Commonwealth Home Health, which is part of the LHC Group.
In a statement Wednesday, the LHC Group said that the worker did not know he’d come into contact with COVID-19 before visiting Buckler’s home and was not showing symptoms at the time. Days later, he learned of the previous contact with the illness.
“Following our procedures and as mandated, we notified the employee, who then immediately self-quarantined, sought medical attention and, as a result, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 28,” the LHC Group said in a statement. The company then notified the health department and all of the patients he’d come in contact with, the company said.
The company also said that they have taken measures to avoid spreading COVID-19, including a daily screening of all employees before they begin work.
“As one of the nation’s leading providers of in-home healthcare, our responsibility is to safeguard the health of our workforce, our patients, and the communities we serve across the country,” the LHC Group said in the statement. “We continue following the guidance of the CDC and working closely with our local agency leadership teams to implement the current best practices in promoting a unified effort.”
Buckler’s wife and daughter who were in the home when his physical therapist visited were also hit hard physically by the illness, Hash said.
A few days after Buckler’s family was informed that the physical therapist had tested positive, Buckler’s wife and daughter got tested because they’d been coughing and had high fevers, Hash said. It took a week to get results back. At one point during her illness, Buckler’s wife was hospitalized for several days with double pneumonia brought on by COVID-19, Hash said.
Buckler had not been tested, but on April 6, he was hit with symptoms. He began running a fever of 101 degrees and felt bad, Hash said. Within a few hours, he started having trouble breathing and got lethargic. He couldn’t comprehend anything or communicate, she said.
He was taken by ambulance to UK Hospital, where he was admitted into the ICU, Hash said.
In Hash’s Facebook post, which has been shared hundreds of times, she thanked the doctors and nurses who were with Buckler as he fought the illness.
“The doctors and ICU nursing staff at the University of Kentucky Hospital did everything they could to save my poor father-in-law’s life,” Hash wrote in the post. “They were so compassionate and empathetic the whole time. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for that. They were all he had.”
Hash urged people to take the illness seriously.
“I want people to think about the following the next time they decide they need to go out for unnecessary items or have a social gathering: Imagine being that sick and having no loved ones around. Imagine living 15 minutes away from the hospital, but not being able to hold your dying dad’s hand,” Hash wrote in her post.
In a phone interview, Hash said she hopes people will follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control about social distancing, handwashing and other measures.
“There are a lot of people that believe this virus is not real, (that) think it’s made up so the news can have something to talk about or distract us from something,” Hash said. “But that’s not the case; it’s an actual virus that’s killing people we know and care for.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 1:37 PM.
