Helu Wang

hwang@th-record.com

NEW WINDSOR - Melody Aravena felt amazed when her miracle twin daughters were born 10 years ago. Last Sunday, a call from the hospital brought a traumatic end to a celebration of the twins' birthday and the worst news she could imagine: Her husband had died from the coronavirus.

“We're broken and hurting. We don't know how to survive without him,” Aravena said, sobbing. “He was the rock of our family.”

Her husband, Rolando Aravena, 44, is among the 30 people who have died from COVID-19 in Orange County as of Friday. There are 2,506 people in the county who have tested positive.

Older people are most at risk as the novel coronavirus continues its rampage, so the sudden death of the father of five who had no underlying health conditions was shocking to the family.

Rolando Aravena, a field technician for Verizon, showed onset symptoms of COVID-19 on March 19, including chills, fever and muscle aches, a week after he had been sent to work at a hospital in Manhattan. The employer did not equip him with any protective gear, his wife said.

They called the coronavirus testing hotline immediately, and, after a five-hour wait on the phone, scheduled a test for March 26.

Twenty screening and testing sites have been established throughout Orange County since the county's first COVID-19 case was confirmed on March 13.

The current priority for testing is for hospitalized patients, symptomatic health-care workers and older people with underlying medical conditions, according to sources at Crystal Run Healthcare.

As Rolando Aravena's symptoms exacerbated over the week, he visited urgent care clinics and emergency rooms, but was sent back home and advised to self-quarantine, his wife said.

According to CDC guidelines, some COVID-19 patients whose oxygen saturation is below 94% require hospitalization. Aravena's oxygen level was 90% before he was prescribed an oxygen pump, his wife said. Melody Aravena said the only instruction they got was to pump every four hours, and they had no idea what a normal oxygen level is.

Until the day of his death, Rolando Aravena believed he would recover as long as he followed instructions.

At about noon Sunday, Melody Aravena realized her husband, who was self-quarantining in a separate room, was having trouble breathing. She drove him to the emergency room at Orange Regional Medical Center in the Town of Wallkill because, she said, the 911 dispatcher refused to send an ambulance, citing the need to avoid other people getting contaminated.

She was not allowed to stay at the hospital, so she drove back home to wait with her family and tried to celebrate her twins' birthday.

Just after the girls blew out the candles on their cake while holding a photo of their dad, Melody Aravena got the call from the hospital - her husband had died.

“I started screaming and yelling, 'No, this is not gonna be true,'” she said.

Two days later, she received her husband's test result, confirming he had coronavirus.

“The government and health-care system failed us. They waited too long (to take actions),” she said. “On his last day, the hospital still told us to stay home and self-quarantine, but he was dying.”

Frank Cassanite, deputy commissioner of Orange County Emergency Services, said normally they would dispatch ambulances if people reported breathing difficulty, but it's harder during the pandemic.

“If a family member is willing to take a patient who can still walk, we're encouraging that,” Cassanite said. “The first responders are very important to the public right now, so we need to make sure we try to avoid what we can for them.”

Orange County Commissioner of Health Irina Gelman said people who have mild symptoms should stay home. But if the symptoms get progressively worse, they should contact their own medical providers who would advise further actions based on medical history.

David Weissmann, spokesman for Verizon, said in a statement that the company has taken every measure to keep the frontline employees healthy and safe. They reschedule an appointment if a customer is quarantined.

In the wake of Rolando Aravena's death, the community has honored his life and legacy. As a volunteer basketball coach, he mentored more than 100 children at the Boys & Girls Club of Newburgh. As of Friday, a GoFundMe page under the name of “The Aravena Family” had raised nearly $70,000 from 1,200 donors.

Kevin White, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Newburgh, said Aravena not only coached sports but helped the children build a sense of family and friendship.

“He made T-shirts for the kids, took them to activities and out for dinners, all is out of his own pocket,” White said. “He is the nicest guy you ever want to meet.”

Every year Aravena's children crave their father's promise of cutting down a Christmas tree together. But they are not going to have their father to do it this year, Melody Aravena said.

“His last words to me were, 'Mel, I never knew love like this before. I love you,'” she said. “I lost the best part of me.”

hwang@th-record.com

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