Voices for Seniors: Maria Sachse
Maria Sachse died from COVID-19 last spring due to Andrew Cuomo’s executive order on nursing homes. Her daughter, Theresa Sari, reflects on her mother’s life and speaks about getting justice for her untimely death.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order forcing nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for COVID-19. It is now known that the March 2020 decision led to the death of almost 15,000 seniors.
One of those people who tragically lost her life was Maria Sachse, 60, who died April 13th, just 10 days shy of her 61st birthday.
A longtime resident at The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at South Point in Island Park, New York, Maria suffered from dementia.
"I trusted them to take care of her where we couldn’t and they failed miserably," her daughter, Theresa Sari, said in an interview with Fox News.
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On March 31st, just six days after the order was signed, Sari received an email from The Grand rehab center informing families about the first confirmed case of coronavirus inside her mother’s facility. The message said in bold: "This is not a reason to panic."
The following morning a nurse called Sari with word that her mother had come down with a fever, was coughing, and refused to eat.
As Maria’s condition rapidly deteriorated, Sari spent the next few days on the phone desperate to have her mother removed from the shared room she was in and brought to a hospital.
After three long days, Maria was finally transferred to a hospital in respiratory distress where she ultimately passed.
"She really fought till the very end," said Sari. "She instilled that fight in me and I would like to instill those beliefs in my children."
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Maria’s two children and six grandchildren said goodbye to her via Zoom, a memory, Theresa said, that still haunts her to this day.
"I promised her I would not stop fighting until the truth is told," she recalled from her final conversation with her mother.
After Cuomo's nursing home controversy came under renewed focus last week when his top aide admitted to covering up the true number of COVID-19 related deaths at nursing homes, Sari said she’s "a bit relieved this is finally coming to a head."
"This is what we’ve been fighting for the past year," she said. "We want the truth to be told and we want to help other families avoid dealing with this traumatizing experience."
Since Maria’s passing, Sari joined VoicesforSeniors, a group focused on raising awareness about the shortcomings of nursing homes and advocating for protective legislation and reform for senior citizens.
"These were vulnerable people that were just thrown to the side," said Sari.
She accused people "in political power" of treating their lost loved ones as "political toys" that they "couldn’t care less about."
In honor of her mother, Sari is determined to continue to shed light on the tragic event in hopes it will lead to lasting change.
"We all have a voice. I am using my voice because I promised my mother that we were going to fight and get the truth out there."