KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As of Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and one woman who has recovered from the virus believes she might have contracted it while on the job.
"This is serious. This is life or death," Stacy Jackson, a COVID-19 survivor, told 41 Action News after spending more than one week hospitalized. "It does not cherry pick who it’s going to attack."
The 47-year-old mother and wife from Kansas City, Missouri, never thought she would become a statistic in this pandemic until March 23.
"On this particular day, I felt really, really bad and so I thought it was allergies,” Jackson said. “That's what I thought and by the time we got to Thursday, I could barely breathe.”
It led to her first visit to Truman Medical Centers. Doctors tested Jackson for COVID-19 and told her to quarantine while they waited for the results.
Last Sunday, those came back positive. The next day, Jackson's condition worsened and she was finally admitted.
"I lost senses, meaning I lost the sense of taste,” Jackson said. “I lost the sense of smell.”
Jackson said she believes she became infected at her job as an accountant at Liberty Hospital.
"I did not care for how we as employees didn’t have a separate entrance from the patients,” Jackson said. “So wherever the patients entrance [was], that was also our entrance as well.”
Liberty Hospital sent this statement to 41 Action News:
"It’s good to know the employee is recovering. It is our goal to keep staff healthy and safe. We have to have them here to fight this pandemic.
Liberty Hospital complies with local, state and other regulatory agencies for the health and safety of all patients and visitors as well as staff. Like all hospitals, we are following CDC guidelines on visitor restrictions, limiting entrances, conducting screening at each entry and rescheduling elective surgical procedures. Our employees can go through secured employee-only entrances or the same entrances as everyone else. Precautionary prescreening is done, and hand sanitizer is provided.
In addition, staff is provided with information regularly on safe work practices. Our efforts include education and training on infection prevention and control, among other aspects of safety in a health care facility. Any employee who suspects they have been exposed to a contagious disease is to notify the Employee Health Department. Our fitness-for-duty policy specifies employees are required to notify their direct manager and Employee Health if they cannot report to work, becomes ill while on duty, or suspects or is diagnosed with a contagious disease.
As CDC guidelines continue to evolve, so do ours - on everything from screening at entrances to distributing masks for non-clinical staff to working remotely. We have the technology for many employees to work from home, however, we do have additional security and risk management policies in place given the kind of work we do."
Doctors have cleared Jackson, but she will have to use oxygen tanks for the next two months.
"I’m OK, that's what they told me,” Jackson said. “However, I'm still taking precautions as though I am. I have children. And, you know, I'm going to stay to myself and do the best I can and try to quarantine as much as I can in the environment that I have.”
