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January 4th, 2021
To: Carlos L. Martinez
President & CEO
United Home Care Services
c.c Agency for Health Care Administration
Florida Health
CDC
Ref. Formal Complaint for patient exposure to Covid-19
The purpose of this letter is to formally condemn the negligence of United Home Care Services and send this complaint to all health-related bodies that govern the activity carried out by this company.
Mrs. Albertina Morejon, 102-year-old patient and resident at 8281 NW 167th Terrace, Miami Lakes FL 33016, has been a United Home Care Services client for more than 5 years. She receives basic care 7 days a week and that includes bathing, accompanying, feeding and cleaning the room.
From Monday through Friday the patient is assisted by a caregiver who remains by her side for an average of 6 hours a day. On Saturdays and Sundays, the services are delivered by another person, but in this case, she stays with Albertina for 1 - 2 hours per day.
Last Saturday 01/02/2021 the caregiver assigned to the weekends (Maria Luisa Serret Giron), called to let us know that on Thursday 12/31/2020 she had tested positive for Covid-19. She stated she was not feeling good since days before. The last day she visited and took care of Albertina was Sunday 12/27/2020.
Upon hearing such news, Ms. Morejon was urgently taken to Leon Medical Center for testing (from where she is a patient) and the result was positive too. The only point of contact that Mrs. Albertina has with the outside is precisely through the caregivers of United Home Care Services because the other two elderly people who lives in the house and accompany her on a regular basis are each 80 and 83 years old and have not been outside or exposed since the pandemic began in early 2020.
How is it possible that a company that provides home health care services to the elderly is putting in danger its clients, especially those at risk and with an age like Ms. Morejon's? The right thing to do by United Home Care Services was to communicate to its client immediately to proceed on time and take the necessary measures not to affect more people. The fact that the company has not notified us in time has generated that the other two people at risk living at the same address, as well as the other caregiver that takes care of Albertina during weekdays, have all been infected with Covid-19.
Following the CDC guidelines, once the employee notified United Home Care Services of the result of her Covid-19 test, the company should have conducted a Contact Tracing to identify individuals (co-workers and patients) who might have been exposed during the infectious period. If the company would have done that, then we could have maybe avoided the infection of the other two members of the household as well as the contagious of the other specialist of the company that covers from Monday through Friday. As result of all this negligence, the caregiver Diana and her son are both diagnosed with Covid-19 and specifically the boy has had to be hospitalized because of his special condition.
This is not the first time we experiment inconveniences coming from your company. It has become something almost regular the bad service derived from the constant changes in personal and the several occasions where we have to call because no one shows off to take care of Albertina.
We demand your company to check the policies, procedures, responsibilities and all concerning to the service you offer because we, the customers, are not receiving the proper support we deserve.
Our family have passed the whole year confined, working from home, avoiding reunions with friends and loved ones just to keep us safe from this virus and to protect the three oldest people under our roof. Unfortunately, this has already happened, and your company did not contribute when decided not to disclose the positive result to Covid-19 test as provided by the caregiver Maria Luisa Serret.
Regards,
Morejon Family
Email: [protected]@gmail.com
