It had been 114 days since Mary Daniel had seen her husband, and she could no longer bear that burden.
So, she decided she would take some drastic measures just so she could be by his side.
Mary took a part-time job as a member of the cleaning crew at the assisted-living facility where her husband lives.
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She was already the chief executive of a company that helps patients with their medical bills, so she didn’t need the money.
But it was the only way she could spend a few hours a week with her husband.
The Jacksonville, Florida assisted living facility banned visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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Mary, 57, now spends two days a week scrubbing dishes and floors or doing other work, so she can hang out with her husband Steve, 66, after her shift.
“It didn’t matter what I had to do to get there,” Mary told The Washington Post. “I was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill my promise that I was going to be there for him every step of the way.”
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Steve moved into the facility last summer after being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Prior to the coronavirus restrictions, Mary would visit with Steve every evening and hang out with him until he was ready for bed.
She would often stay with him until he fell asleep.
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“I got a call on the 11th, and they told me I couldn’t come back,” Mary said. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
Mary attempted to visit her husband through a window but he just became upset because he didn’t understand what was going on.
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“I did that twice, and he just cried,” Daniel said. “I decided not to do that anymore since he’s better when he’s not crying at the window. That wasn’t doing him any good.”
Still, Mary wasn’t going to give up.
She reached out to the governor, talked to local reporters, and called the parent company of the facility to see if there was any way she could get in. She even offered to train her dog as a therapy dog and volunteer at the facility.
Mary was so heartbroken over not being able to see her husband of 24 years that she started a Facebook group “Caregivers for Compromise — because isolation kills too!” where people shared their stories of being separated from loved ones and what has happened to their loved ones in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Eventually, RoseCastle Management, who owns the facility, found a compromise that would allow Mary to work at the facility.
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“They said, ‘Let’s wait to see what happens,'” Mary told TODAY. “Then, out of the blue two weeks ago, they called and said, ‘Do you want a job?’ When I found out it was as a dishwasher, I thought, ‘Well, okay! I guess I’m a dishwasher now.'”
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Mary says she had to undergo several tests for coronavirus and had to endure strict training before she started working at the facility.
“I had to have a background check, a drug test, a COVID test, 20 hours of video training on everything, including infectious diseases. It was 100 percent legit,” Mary said.
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“The last thing I want is to be reckless and bring it in there. I’ve been tested three times. I’m not going places I don’t need to go. If I have to go to the grocery store, I’m social distancing.”
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Thankfully, when Mary and Steve got to finally lay their eyes on each other, he recognized her right away and called out her name.
“We hugged for the longest time,” Mary recalls.
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