Summerlin medical worker still hospitalized after overcoming COVID-19

Angelica Rodriguez has already overcome the coronavirus, yet complications from COVID-19 have kept the 62-year-old — the matriarch and “cornerstone” of her large family — isolated in a hospital room for more than a month.

Just hearing her mother say “I love you” to one of her 12 grandchildren via FaceTime on Wednesday was “amazing,” Rodriguez’s daughter told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Las Vegas woman has been hospitalized since April 1 after contracting the coronavirus, most likely through her work as an electrocardiograph technician at Summerlin Hospital Medical Center, said her daughter, 37-year-old Steffany Schwartz.

Rodriguez, who has a great-granddaughter in addition to her 12 grandchildren, has since tested negative for the virus but remains hospitalized, and Schwartz has organized a GoFundMe to raise money for the expected medical bills.

“You go over one hurdle and then another problem presents itself,” Schwartz said about her mother’s recovery. “It’s just been such a roller coaster of emotions. Just knowing that she’s suffering has been so so hard.”

Schwartz, who works as a school nurse for the Clark County School District, said her mother likely got the virus while working at the hospital, because her job requires her to lean close to patients and place monitors on their chests before interpreting their heartbeats.

Rodriguez practiced strict social distancing but didn’t seem concerned about the pandemic until one day after work, when she told her daughter about putting electrodes on a pregnant woman who couldn’t stop coughing. Neither was wearing a mask, Schwartz said.

“That was the point where I was like, ‘Oh My God, it’s going to happen,’” Schwartz said. “I knew there was no way that my mom was going to not get it. I just didn’t think it was going to get as severe and as bad as it did.”

‘So much unknown’

First Rodriguez started coughing, and she thought it was her asthma acting up. Then the fever came, and she got a coronavirus test on April 1. Medical staff told her to go home and see if her symptoms improved.

In less than 24 hours, Rodriguez started having trouble breathing, and Schwartz’s father took her to Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center. Within a week, Rodriguez was asking the doctors to intubate her as she fought for air, Schwartz said.

“That was the hardest time for us, because there was just so much unknown,” Schwartz said. “It’s hard being a nurse because you know the reality of this disease and what it can do — but then it’s also our mother, and you don’t want to think about what could possibly happen.”

UNLV epidemiology professor Brian Labus, a member of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s medical advisory team, said many people put on ventilators don’t survive, and even if they do, long-term hospitalizations are “not uncommon.”

“If you get to the point where you’re hospitalized, this can cause serious problems that can go on for a pretty long time,” Labus said.

After 12 days, Rodriguez was taken off the ventilator, Schwartz said. Then came a blood clot in her arm, and another issue with her lungs that was probably the result of a bloody nose trickling down her throat as Rodriguez aspirated, unable to lift her head.

As of Friday, Rodriguez is still on a feeding tube and receiving oxygen through her nose. She’s weak and could only mouth words when Schwartz video-chatted with her, but even lifting her head off the pillow is an improvement, Schwartz said Friday.

She said her mother is recovering “slowly but surely” and is drawing strength from family and friends praying for her.

Expected medical bills

Schwartz said her mother is quiet and strong, and like “the typical Hispanic woman,” she loves to cook for her family. Rodriguez still chases her younger grandchildren when they play and is always busy around the house, only stopping to watch her favorite TV crime shows.

Rodriguez had her first child at 16 around the time she immigrated from El Salvador to California, Schwartz said. Over the years, she’s helped raise her numerous grandchildren and a 1½-year-old great-granddaughter.

She’s worked in the medical field for nearly three decades as a certified nursing assistant and EKG technician. Schwartz said she was partly inspired to pursue nursing after watching her mother take care of others.

Rodriguez has health insurance through her job at Summerlin Hospital, where she’s worked for about five years after moving to the valley from California, but Schwartz is expecting costly medical bills to start arriving soon. As of Friday, the GoFundMe page had raised $7,690.

Schwartz said her father only works nine months out of the year as a school bus driver, and she doesn’t expect her mother will be able to return to work anytime soon.

“The bills from her medical stay are going to far exceed from what we’re able to pay for,” Schwartz said. “I just want her to concentrate on getting better and getting stronger.”

Schwartz said the shutdowns caused by the pandemic are like being “stuck in some kind of horror movie.” But while she understands people’s frustrations with the closures, she wants others to take the virus seriously.

“I wouldn’t want anyone to have their family member experience this,” she said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.