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ELM GROVE, Wisconsin (AP) – Eight nuns living in a nursing home for sisters in suburban Milwaukee died of complications from COVID-19 last week – four of whom died on the same day – a grim reminder of how quickly which the virus can spread in collective living conditions, even if precautions are taken.
Our Lady of Elm Grove had been free of the virus for nine months, but the congregation that runs the house found on Thanksgiving Day that one of the roughly 100 sisters living there had tested positive. Despite social distancing and other mitigation efforts that were already in place, several more positive tests followed, said Sister Debra Marie Sciano, provincial leader of the School Sisters of Notre Dame Central Pacific Province.
The first death occurred last week and the death announcements kept coming. Four of the eight nuns died on Monday alone, a difficult situation for the other sisters in the house and members of the larger congregation, who see themselves as another family.
“Even though they’re older and most of the sisters who came to God are in the late ’80s,’ 90s … we didn’t expect them to leave so quickly,” Sciano said. “So it was very difficult for us.”
Sciano said the congregation isolated sisters who tested positive in the same area so that they would have no contact with others. They are advised to stay in their room, where meals are brought to them. Funerals and memorial services are broadcast on closed circuit television. Sciano declined to say how many other sisters have tested positive, citing residents’ privacy.
The outbreak comes months after similar homes reported several deaths from the coronavirus. In July, 1 3 nuns died in a convent near Detroit and seven died in a Maryknoll Sisters’ Center in New York. At least six nuns also died at Notre Dame des Anges Convent in Greenfield, Wisconsin – a home that provides remembrance care to the nuns of the School Sisters of St. Francis and the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Earlier this month, church officials said 76 Catholic nuns tested positive for COVID-19 after an outbreak at a Franciscan convent in northwestern Germany, forcing health officials to put the entire monastery in quarantine.
Sciano said Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield had not had any additional positive cases for many months and the facility still did not allow visitors.
Deena Swank, director of communications for the Felecian Sisters of North America, who have lost 13 sisters – about a fifth of the Convent population in Livonia, Mich. – said there were no additional deaths and that ‘they were eager to get the sisters vaccinated when possible.
Sciano said she does not know anyone at the Notre Dame house in Elm Grove on a priority list for vaccines, but administrators are contacting local pharmacies to try to get vaccines lined up for the future.
Convents share some of the same issues as nursing homes, which are the hardest-hit industry in the United States in terms of COVID-19 deaths. In many cases, their populations are elderly and live closely with each other.
Linda Wickstrom, spokesperson for the Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services, said county disease investigators have been working with the facility since the Sisters at Notre Dame School contacted them in November.
“Given the extreme contagiousness of this virus, it is extremely important for communities to practice basic protocols to stop the spread of the disease,” Wickstrom said. She said the sisters at Notre Dame School sanitized heavily affected surfaces, washed their hands frequently, socially distanced themselves and wore appropriate masks. Sciano said all residents with the virus have been isolated and visitors are not allowed.
The School Sisters of Notre Dame established Notre Dame House at Elm Grove in 1859 to provide an orphanage for children in the area. It later became a home for elderly and sick sisters, according to its website.
The first COVID-19 death at the facility on December 9, when Sisters Rose M. Feess and Mary Elva Wiesner passed away. Sister Dorothy MacIntyre died on December 11 and Sister Mary Alexius Portz died on Sunday, according to the congregation’s website. Sisters Cynthia Borman, Joan Emily Kaul, Lillia Langreck and Michael Marie Laux all died on Monday.
Sciano said all the women worked as educators. Some were missionaries. Some were musicians. Some have worked on issues of peace and justice. One was a published poet. According to the congregation’s website, one of them was a teacher and principal who enjoyed working in the summer on a Native American reservation in South Dakota. Another taught in Catholic elementary schools for over 40 years and worked part-time as the home gift shop coordinator in Elm Grove.
“We believe that each of these sisters, and all of the sisters, really, they made a difference in this world,” said Sciano, adding, “I just think it’s important that people know that and that they are committed. until the end of their life.
She said she hopes others can learn about the sisters’ lives and continue their mission of “maybe making this world a little better because of them.”
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Forliti reported from Minneapolis; Crawford reported from Chicago.
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