"The health care system failed us," Aravena's wife, Melody Aravena, wrote on social media, according to WPIX. "My soulmate is gone. The pain is unbearable," she said."
Rolando Aravena, who drove daily to New York City from Orange County to work as a field representative for Verizon, first became sick March 19, his wife said.
Aravena called a hotline but was unable to get an appointment to get tested for COVID-19 until March 26, WPIX reported.
#GoneTooSoon The children of #SonnyAravena said he and their mom formed #dynamicduo. The Harlem-born #Verizon worker had 5 kids; he died in #COVID19Pandemic, on the 10th birthday of his twin girls. His eldest wept; said “doctors just kept telling him go home.” pic.twitter.com/KjzZgr2Xqf
— Mary Murphy (@MurphyPIX) April 3, 2020
His wife said before that appointment, her husband went to an urgent care center on March 22 and an emergency room two days later. He was turned away from both Orange County facilities, Melody Aravena told the television station.
“His oxygen levels were 89,” Melody Aravena wrote on Instagram. "They told him to use the inhaler and quarantine.”
"His wife really tried. She took him to the hospital, she cared for him, they quarantined like they were told to, and he was pretty much left to die because by the time that they saw that there was something wrong, it was too late," Caridad Jimenez, a family friend, told Spectrum News.
Rob Lee, a spokesman for the Greater Hudson Valley Health System, said in a statement that Orange Regional Medical Center was not a community testing center.
“When a seriously ill patient presents to the emergency department, we follow the CDC clinical criteria for considering testing for COVID-19 based on what the CDC knows about the virus at this present time,” Lee said. “Doctors use their clinical judgment to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and whether the patient should be tested. Most patients with confirmed COVID-19 have developed fever and/or symptoms of acute respiratory illness such as cough and difficulty breathing. We then appropriately triage those patients.”
Jimenez and another family friend, Leidy Serrano, have started a GoFundMe page for the Aravena family. As of Monday afternoon, the page had nearly reached its goal of $75,000 as more than 1,300 people had pledged donations.
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