50 - Exposing Veteran’s Hospital Negligence and Advocating for COVID Survivors

“In the worst of humanity, you see the best of humanity,” explains Chris Kocher, Executive Director of COVID Survivors for Change. Before the pandemic began, Chris was working as the Director of the Everytown Survivor Network, organizing trainings and support groups that empowered survivors of gun violence to share their stories and promote meaningful change. After COVID hit in full force last spring, Chris saw several natural connections emerge between gun violence survivors and those impacted by the pandemic. Most notably, he observed that, due to social distancing measures, the vast majority of individuals who have lost loved ones to COVID have not been afforded the support systems and closure that most people expect after someone passes. As a result, Chris decided to create COVID Survivors for Change, a nationwide community of people who have been directly impacted by the current pandemic.

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Ian Horowitz is one of these individuals. His father passed away from COVID at a VA nursing home in Pennsylvania that was alarmingly negligent towards its residents. Between the months of April 2020 and May 2020, 66 residents died in the facility. After speaking with countless staff members from the home, Ian learned that management was blatantly disregarding CDC guidelines, refusing to provide PPE to its residents or workers, not allowing residents to leave the facility when they needed medical attention, and sweeping COVID-related deaths under the rug. Ian not only spoke up himself, but also encouraged the staff members he was in contact with to speak up. Ian explains that after months of contacting government officials about the issue, several higher ups at the home were either fired, demoted, or reassigned. While these results were rewarding, Ian and his family have yet to hold a funeral for his father.

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Join us for this poignant and eye-opening episode of The Kayleigh O’Keefe Show to learn more about the work Chris and Ian have been doing to support individuals and families impacted by the pandemic.

On our first ever dual-interview episode, host Kayleigh O’Keefe explores just how much can change in a matter of months when a crisis arises. Although the world has witnessed plenty of disheartening events in the past year, Chris and Ian’s work shows that good can still prevail when people come together to share their support and their stories.

Quotes
• “I’ve always been outspoken. I’ve always stood for fighting for different rights...I’ve always learned at an early age, you speak out. If you want change in this country, you must speak out. And I started encouraging others to just not be quiet.” (11:22-11:40)

• “They weren’t handing out PPE, they weren’t giving facemasks. And eventually, on April 24, my dad called me and said, ‘A bunch of people in Hazmat suits just came into the room to remove Ed.’ And at that point, he was pretty much turning blue….I remember talking to the ER doctor the night my dad actually went into the hospital. He had said to me, ‘I remember Ed Bush, and I was shocked at the condition that he came in here.’ And this is something that you would never think a doctor is really supposed to say, but they were so traumatized by what was going on, that this facility most of the time was not allowing residents to leave and go to a hospital. And in the month of April, 49 residents died.” (16:12-7:13)

• “You spend your whole life thinking that when you lose someone it’s going to look a certain way, and you’re going to have certain supports….I had just gone through it with my father, but I had been able to say goodbye. It happened pretty suddenly, but it wasn’t on that same timeline that so many people lost loved ones with COVID. So there were a whole bunch of things that I was able to count on – being with family and friends and hugging people – all these things that I was able to count on in my loss that suddenly millions of Americans were not able to have access to.” (23:30-24:03)

• “My frustration is...a lot of our legislative officials in different states are trying to find past laws to grant immunity to these nursing homes and these VAs. And they grant immunity for management from being held accountable and being prosecuted. Where’s the advocating for the elderly? Where’s the advocating for the veterans?” (37:45-38:11)

• “That to me is not just an unprecedented virus causing all of these things to happen. That’s just total mismanagement, that’s negligence, and that’s breaking the law. It’s murder is what this was.”  (40:10-40:25)

• “The things that people have done to not just remember their loved one, but to invite others into that space….To do something that started with, ‘I want to remember my loved one,’ but then grows into something where you’re helping hundreds and hundreds of families have their loved ones remembered is incredibly, incredibly heartbreaking, but heartwarming and also powerful and inspiring.” (45:17-45:40)

• “Choosing love means celebrating happiness and also celebrating heartbreak and giving people the space to have both.” (51:08 -51:16)

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Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhorowitz/ 
www.covidsurvivorsforchange.org
Twitter: @survivorschange, @chrisjkocher

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