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EVERYDAY HEROES: Sugar Mountain admin keeping patients safe

Tahlequah Daily Press - 5/12/2022

May 11—WELLING — Sugar Mountain Retreat is an assisted living facility that houses people with mental disabilities, and throughout the pandemic, Administrator Autumn Ketcher reports that not a single resident has contracted COVID-19.

Sugar Mountain is a 54-bed facility that houses both men and women, and it is staffed with 11 employees.

"They suffer from mental disabilities. We give them 24-hour supervision and medicine they need that they can't take on their own. We cook them three square meals a day. It is assisted living," said Ketcher.

Since the pandemic hit, the facility has been understaffed. At the same time, Ketcher decided the only way to stay in operation was to ensure the safety of the facility's patients.

"All of them are medically fragile. We have people on oxygen. We have some people [for whom] COVID would have been extremely dangerous. They are all candidates that if they got it, they might pass away," said Ketcher.

To curb the spread of COVID-19, employees monitored each patient for coughs, headaches, and fevers. They took each patient's temperature three times a day, and they wore masks and other personal protective equipment. Sanitation stations were also set up throughout the facility.

"I shut out the facility to outsiders," said Ketcher. "We arranged to have them talk on the phone and online with loved ones so they could have communication from the outside."

Employees also cut out resident trips to Tahlequah. However, to keep spirits high, they took trips to the park and organized picnics. On one occasion, Sugar Mountain rented out a theater so residents could enjoy a movie without being exposed to outsiders.

"We still managed to find things to do with them," she said.

Throughout the pandemic, two employees caught the virus, and Sweet Mountain was able to isolate them before they spread the disease to residents.

"The staff had to come around the backdoor in the kitchen to make sure they didn't have symptoms. Staff had to take temperatures two times a day. We were on lockdown for a while, but it worked, and it kept them all safe," she said.

The employees who contracted COVID were placed in quarantine and were not allowed to return until they produced multiple positive tests. For a time, employees also disinfected doorknobs every 30 minutes.

"We went to the fire station and got COVID stuff in spray bottles," said Ketcher. "We knew that if the residents were going to get it, they were going to get it from us, so we all had to be careful when we were away from the facility. By the grace of God, we kept it safe. It would have spread like a wildfire, and we knew how dangerous it was. We worked as a team. It was quite a challenge."

Tell us about it

Do you know an "everyday hero" who deserves to be featured in a profile story? Email Brian King at bking@tahlequahdailypress.com

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