Art Honoring Nursing Home Deaths Hung Around Wash Heights Center

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Naming the Lost Memorials on Monday installed an art exhibit outside the Isabella Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Washington Heights.

The senior center sits at 515 Audubon Ave in the Uptown Manhattan neighborhood.

Naming the Lost Memorials is a collective made up of artists, folklorists, and people who have lost loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Creating these memorials has been a way to recognize and honor those who have been lost, but also a way as a community — finding ways to not feel alone," said Elena Martinez, a member of Naming the Lost. "To contribute and give back to our communities and lastly, to give voice to our disappointment, anger and sadness about how this crisis has been handled by those in power."

More than 6,000 seniors lost their lives to COVID-19 in New York state-regulated nursing homes.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has received criticism for a March directive from the State Department of Health that ordered residents treated for COVID-19 at hospitals to be admitted back into senior care centers.

The Cuomo Administration conducted its own report saying that the policy was not the culprit, but instead highlighted nursing home staff for spreading the virus.

The New York State legislature held its second hearing on Monday about nursing home deaths in the state during COVID-19.