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‘I miss him so much’: Sumter County woman asking long-term care facility for compassion, help video calling her husband

SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — UPDATE: Winnie Dixon said an hour after this story aired on Channel 9, a supervisor at the long-term care facility set up a Zoom call with her husband.

ORIGINAL REPORT: All Winnie Dixon wants is to be able to see and speak to her husband of 47 years over the phone.

“Oh boy, I miss him so much,” she said looking at photos of her husband Elliott on Tuesday.

But the long-term care facility where he is recuperating said she can’t do that from her Android phone. To see her husband, she said they told her she’d have to have an iPhone.

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“I can’t afford to buy another phone just to have FaceTime, like they would’ve offered another way for me to see my husband and they didn’t,” Dixon said. “FaceTime, either with that or nothing at all.”

The Sumter County woman said she knows her husband is being well taken care of medically, but she worries about his non-medical needs, like hearing her voice and seeing her face.

She said an outpatient procedure suddenly ended with Elliott in cardiac arrest.

“He was in the ICU and they did every effort for me to see him,” she said.

But since he was transferred to transitional care at Kindred Hospital Ocala she hasn’t been able to video call with him.

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She said Elliott still has a tracheostomy tube to breathe and can’t talk over the phone. Given the shock of what he’s been through, she believes it’s critical for his recovery to both see and hear her.

“I know that they’re doing everything medically for him, but just a touch of a familiar hand or a familiar voice or a familiar face, that might help, you know?” she said.

So far, Dixon said her appeals to the nurses and patient advocates and their supervisors for another video call option aren’t working.

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“All I want is for them to have a little compassion and help me see my husband, that’s all,” she said.

Channel 9 reached out to the administrative office at Kindred Hospital Ocala and its corporate office for comment, but have not heard back.

Staff we were able to reach at Kindred Hospital Ocala said they’re hopeful in-person visitation will reopen by next week.

But for Dixon, the facility is a 50-mile round-trip drive. She said making video calls is an essential option for seniors like herself, as long as her husband needs care far from home.


Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.