A Midnight Rescue
The FRONTLINE Dispatch
GBH
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2020
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As COVID-19 ran rampant through the adult care facility, family members struggled to learn the truth of how the coronavirus outbreak was hitting their loved ones. Reporter Joaquin Sapien takes us inside the story of a daughter’s midnight rescue of her father from Queens Adult Care Center, which he says is in an area that became “the epicenter of the epicenter” of the outbreak in New York. Natasha Roland describes rushing her father from the facility to a hospital, where he tested positive for COVID-19 — though not long before she'd been told he was safe and that the center had no cases. The Queens Adult Care Center, for its part, disputes Roland's account, and says it has taken "extensive precautions to ensure the well-being of each of its residents and employees." Listen to the full story.
Queens Adult Care Center was the subject of a story and short film co-published by FRONTLINE and ProPublica in April 2020. Read and watch HERE.
Sapien first encountered the facility in reporting he did for FRONTLINE and ProPublica’s 2019 documentary,Right to Fail. Now streaming on the PBS Video App and online.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Frontline Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation, |
| 0:03.6 | committed to excellence in journalism, |
| 0:05.6 | and by the Frontline Journalism Fund, with major support from John and Joanne Hagler. |
| 0:10.8 | Support for Frontline Dispatch comes from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. and When you hear the word cancer, their team is ready. |
| 0:22.7 | Learn more at mass general.org slash cancer. |
| 0:26.7 | Hi, my name is Natasha Roland. |
| 0:29.5 | I've read an article about Queens Adult Care Center. I wanted to speak to somebody in reference to that |
| 0:36.1 | article because I had to go in there to take my father out. My dad hadn't eaten in a week. He couldn't move. They were not giving him |
| 0:47.8 | his medication. That voicemail was the Pro-a reporter Joaquin Sapien. Just the week before, he'd written a story about coronavirus racing through an adult care facility. |
| 1:02.0 | As soon as the coronavirus hit New York, I started to think about the people that I had been covering for the last several years. |
| 1:09.0 | People who are extremely susceptible to this disease, they have mental illness, many of them are elderly |
| 1:15.5 | with underlying health conditions and that sort of describes the majority |
| 1:21.0 | of the residents at the Queen's Adult Care Center. |
| 1:24.7 | Waukeen has been reporting for a Republica and frontline on how the virus is impacting |
| 1:30.0 | places like the Queen's Adult Care Center and what happened in Natasha Rowland's 82-year-old |
| 1:35.8 | father. |
| 1:39.8 | The Frontline Dispatch is made possible by the Abrams Foundation, committed to excellence in journalism, and by the WGBH Catalyst Fund. Support for the Frontline Dispatch also comes from the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. |
| 1:53.0 | Early detection is key to catching and treating many cancers. |
| 1:56.0 | You can learn more about the innovative programs at mass general. |
| 2:00.0 | org slash cancer. |
| 2:02.0 | Mass General Cancer Center. Everyday Amazing. dot org cancer cancer, everyday amazing. |
| 2:05.0 | Hey Joaquin, |
... |
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