Victim's parents want pediatric center closed

"It is negligent because they do not take full responsibility for that happened over there," said Ocroimy Dolcin, the girl's father. "They're just going to make money, not to take care of the sick people."

The girl's mother, Modeline Auguste, added: "In order for me to be happy, the facility has to be closed."

Dorchester Dolcin, was one of at least ten people who died at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation last month of an adenovirus outbreak. Dolcin died just a few weeks after her fourth birthday. (Photo: Family Dolcin Dolcin, used with permission)

A representative for the Wanaque Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The state health department has failed to identify any of the victims, citing patient privacy. The first child developed respiratory symptoms on Sept. 26 in the center's pediatric ventilator unit. The department was notified on Oct. 9 of a "cluster of respiratory illnesses" at the Wanaque Center.

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Dolcin and Auguste spoke in a wide-ranging interview with NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network New Jersey at their Orange Apartment on Thursday night. A toddler's bed sat barely used in the living room next to an IV pole and near an unopened Fisher-Price play set.

The couple, immigrants from Haiti, spoke in their native Creole at times with a family member interpreting. Auguste, who aussi spoke en français, beamed when she shows pictures of Dorcase through the years. Among the framed was a photo taken in September 2016 at a second birthday party for Dorcase at the Wanaque Center, with staff members surrounding her wheelchair.

Dorcase was so debilitated when she was born in September 2014 that she was born in the neo-natal intensive care unit. She was brought home, but her parents soon discovered that they could provide.

Dorcase required a ventilator to breathe and a tube in her stomach to be fed. Dorchester was responsive to voices and would always laugh whenever someone called her name.

She first stayed at a pediatric long-term care facility in Voorhees, a 90-minute drive from her parents' home, where four children were sickened in a separate adenovirus outbreak that was reported this week.

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Dorcase was moved to the Wanaque Center in June 2016, a few months before her second birthday. It was a welcome relief for her parents, who could visit her more often.

Auguste said she went to the center almost every other day. If she would make the 23-mile trip in a taxi. "They would charge me a lot of money, but I did not care," she said. "That's my baby."

Modeline Auguste and her husband Ocroimy Dolcin are shown as they talk about their daughter Dorcase Dolcin. Their daughter was one of at least ten people who died at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation last month of an adenovirus outbreak. Dolcin died just a few weeks after her fourth birthday. Thursday, November 1, 2018 (Photo: Kevin R. Wexler / NorthJersey.com)

But Auguste, a nurse's aide at an Esbad County geriatric facility, said the care at Wanaque was delinquent at times.

Auguste said she once found Dorcase wearing two diapers, which she says that the staff was trying to conceal her daughter's death rather than change her diaper. Auguste said Dorcase was hospitalized at least one other time for respiratory problems.

The Wanaque Center has been cited for deficiencies over the last four years, including instances of poor patient care and unsanitary practices that can lead to the spread of infection.

Despite her concerns, Auguste said she had few other options for Dorcase. There are only three other long-term care facilities in New Jersey.

Still, Auguste said she was trying to make the best of it. She threw a party for Dorcase at the center in September to celebrate her fourth birthday. Dorcase was dressed up as a princess with a silver-and-pink tiara.

Dorcase Ephraim Dolcin died Oct. 8, a victim of the adenovirus outbreak at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, her parents said. Dorcase is pictured here at a party at the center celebrating its fourth birthday in September. She died a month later. (Photo: Courtesy of Modeline Auguste)

But it was a month ago, on Friday Oct. 5, Auguste said that Dorcase had a 101-degree fever and was being given Motrin and Tylenol to try to bring it down. Later that day, Auguste was told that Dorcase's condition had worsened. She was taken to St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson.

By that Sunday, Dorcase's vital signs were plummeting. None of the treatments were helping, Auguste said. "I asked her doctor if there was hope," Auguste said. "He said, 'No. She is going to go.'"

Dorchester died at St. Joseph's the next day, Oct. 8.

Late the next day, Oct. 9, officials from the Wanaque Center contacted the Health Department about the outbreak. The health commissioner, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, did not say how many children had been sickened or had died.

Auguste did not realize that other children were sick when she saw parents she knew at St. Joseph's. She believes her daughter is one of the first to die from the outbreak.

Elnahal has said it would be impossible to shut down the Wanaque Center because of the lack of pediatric facilities in the state and the difficulty of moving many patients around at the same time.

Auguste and her husband do not care. They said they do not want to see another child get sick or die.

For Dorchester's memorial, the couple has a prayer in English to honor their daughter.

It reads in part:

She gave a flower with radiant colors, beautiful and fresh, like the dawn in spring.
My soul was radiant, my happiness unequaled. Of all my flowers, she was the most glorious.

Follow Scott Fallon on Twitter: @NewsFallon

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