Special Report: Pandemic exposes systemic staffing problems at U.S. nursing homes

FILE PHOTO: Robyn Esaw sits in her a wheelchair in her room at Hammonton Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing amid a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Hammonton, New Jersey, U.S., in this undated handout photo. Robyn Esaw/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - One night in April, as coronavirus swept through the Hammonton Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare, Robyn Esaw, a double amputee, signaled for help with her bedpan. She said she hit the bedside button that turns on a red hallway light. None of the few remaining staff showed up - and one of them turned the light off. Esaw only got help, eventually, by wheeling herself to the nursing station and yelling.

On another night in another room of the New Jersey home, Barbara Grimes noticed her roommate sitting in a puddle of urine, which seeped into a wound on her tailbone. No one checked on the roommate for three hours. The woman, Grimes said, had given up on calling for help.