'Sick people looking for help are on their own'

Pamela Gray, 64, is recovering from COVID-19 in her Sparta home. She is exasperated at the hoops and hurdles she had to jump through and over just to discover her health status because there are no testing sites in Sussex County.

Her story began on Thursday, April 2, when, as she explains it, "Something was just wrong with my body."

As the director of recreational activities at a nursing home in Orange, N.J., Gray knows that working with elderly people puts her at risk of contracting the coronavirus. Except for high blood pressure, which is controlled, she has no underlying health issues.

At the nursing home, all employees have their temperatures taken at the start of each work day. Everyone is required to wear masks and gloves. On Friday, Gray called in sick and self-quarantined.

“The training as a healthcare professional came in, and I knew I had to separate myself from my husband and son,” Gray said. “I had bad chills.”

Suspecting she had COVID-19, Gray called her primary physician. It was Saturday, so she got a recording that told her no tests were available but that she could make an appointment.

“I didn’t want an appointment," she said. "I knew I needed a test."

A 'secret hunt'

Gray started searching but could find no testing sites in Sussex County. She finally called a site Rockaway.

“Even though I fit the criteria, was not feeling well, and worked in a nursing home, they told me I was just ‘borderline’ of being able to get a test,” Gray said. “They told me, ‘If anything else happens, let us know. There are only 15 tests to go around.’”

Three hours later, Gray was running a fever. “I was getting sicker and sicker by the minute,” she said.

She called Rockaway back. She was given a patient ID number and told to go to Med Express at 5 to 8 the next morning.

“It was like you were going on some sort of secret hunt, and no one tells you anything,” she said.

On Sunday morning, April 5, Gray went to Rockaway. She was promised a call back in an hour. She waited in her car for two and a half hours before the call came. She met the healthcare workers at the double doors.

“They gave me a mask and told me to come in,” Gray said. “First a nurse saw me, and then a PA (physician's assistant) saw me. They gave me a test and told me it would take four to five days to come back.”

Gray was given COVID-19 information and sent home.

“The very next morning, they called me, asked how I was feeling and told me I was positive," she said. "They said if I was feeling worse to go to the hospital. After getting over the initial shock of realizing I was positive – it doesn't really hit you until you hear you have it – I was put on a Z-Pack and told to take Tylenol.”

A few days later, she heard from the Sussex County Board of Health.

“They said to have a testing site is very expensive,” Gray said. “I live in Sparta, and taxes here are very high. You'd think there would be a testing site in all of Sussex County.”

The virus is running its course as Gray remains in isolation, and miffed.

“The whole process of trying to get a test is an enigma,” she said. “There is such a lack of information in the county. No one knows what to do."

The closest hospital is Newton Medical Center, but she didn’t go there.

“I never went to Newton Memorial because I didn't know if they could test me there,” she said. “I didn’t think I had all of the symptoms you need to get tested there. I wasn’t coughing. I know from working in healthcare that a lot of people are walking around with this. Some people get no symptoms and some people have GI symptoms. People have to take this seriously, quarantine, and get proper nutrition.”

Limited access

Newton Memorial's website (atlantichealth.org) includes a link to 24 testing sites in New Jersey, but all except two -- Bergen Community College in Paramus and PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel -- are for residents of the counties where the sites are located.

On Tuesday, Sussex County announced that a limited number of residents will be allowed access to a drive-through test center at County College of Morris in Randolph starting late in the week. Residents can sign up at health.morriscountynj.gov/COVIDTesting.

About 75 appointments each day will be set aside for Sussex County, with the other 240 appointments reserved for Morris County residents showing signs of the virus.

On April 5, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) requested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) establish an additional drive-through COVID-19 testing site to serve the residents of Warren and Sussex counties.

"The number of positive cases in Warren and Sussex Counties has steadily increased in the past days and weeks, but without a drive-through testing site, these counties are at higher risk for these numbers to increase," Gottheimer said in his request. "Accurate detection and containment of the coronavirus is our best chance to flatten the curve and reduce the spread of this virus. Therefore, I strongly urge you to support a new drive-through testing center in Warren and Sussex counties until the peak of infections has begun its decline."

Gray said it was important to her to share her experience.

"I’m home convalescing with COVID-19,” she said. “The testing in Sussex County is nonexistent, and sick people looking for help are on their own. I have been through the trials and errors and feel compelled to share my story in order to help others."