the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, The membership of the Veterans of Foreign Wars is shocked to learn of the 39 additional unreported COVID 19 deaths of NJ Veteran Memorial Home residents. The failure to report these deaths leads to the appearance of a cover up by the Administration. While we are supportive of the recently announced Attorney General’s Office investigation into the deaths, it is unacceptable that it took over five months for this investigation to begin. Back in April, the State had in its possession a U.S. Department of Health report which concluded that our veterans, their spouses, and Gold Star parents, were denied the basic human right of a dignified existence. The contents of this report along with the shocking high death rate of the residents should have served as a catalyst to immediately initiate an investigation, not five months later. The lack of transparency and failure to act for five months has eroded any confidence in the Administration’s ability to police itself and the VFW calls on the State Legislature to demand for the Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the failures that caused these deaths.
The VFW has been working with Legislators to correct the deficiencies which will ensure the health and wellbeing of our treasured veterans under state care is second to none. To ensure our veterans are professionally cared for, correct the lack of transparency, and address the numerous family and resident concerns, the VFW has drafted legislation which would create a Veteran Memorial Home Ombudsman Office and an Oversight Committee. Time is of the essence, and we must act sooner rather than later to protect these residents.
Never again should resident or family member concerns fall on deaf ears, nor should the homes operate in a manner that would cause our veterans to suffer the highest death rates in the world.
Never again can we allow 34% of our veterans under state care to needlessly die.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars is committed to fighting for these veterans and their families.
We are sure that my mother died at the Paramus Veterans home as a direct result of the COVID 19 Corona Virus, on April 3, 2020.
We were not able to see her because her unit was on lock down for at least a month prior to her death. We were called the day before she passed and told they would make arrangements for me to come in to see her, yet they also said that as far as they knew everyone in her unit and the whole facility as well as staff, had the virus.
I am a cancer survivor only 6 years and couldn’t take that chance for myself and my family.
The Paramus Veterans home called me the following morning and notified me that my mother, Gloria Pezzolla had passed at 5.50am.
When I received her death certificate the facility doctor listed her cause of death as “coronary artery disease”.
My mother did not have heart disease.
I called the doctor to question this and his response was “ well everyone at her age of 93 has heart disease, plus we had no test result to prove she had Covid”. I replied, “ you had no proof she had heart disease either”
How awful that she and many other residents died in a situation of poor administration and staff and no means of caring for them in the enormous spread of this virus in the Paramus Veterans Home.
Shameful.
And no one will pay for this.
Even more shameful.
Makes me both sad and angry.