NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. — May 7 is the National Day of Prayer and one nursing home in Newberry celebrated by encircling their building in prayer.
White Oak Manor took some time Thursday afternoon to pray outside of their building.
Dr. Michael Bernardo, Medical Director at White Oak Manor, cares for most of the patients at this facility and says the past weeks have been tough on everyone, especially with this nursing home being the only one in the county with a positive patient.
“A lot of stress, obviously, a lot of extra effort to keep this controlled, and they’ve done a tremendous job," Dr. Bernardo says. "In the midst of all of the negative stuff, you hear a lot about nursing homes and infection control - they’re very obsessive about it, so its great to have this kind of support.”
Maria Dickerson, sister of the nursing home's Administrator led the prayer Thursday. “We’ve been very concerned, especially for this population that there don’t seem to be a lot of answers. Even the experts don’t seem to know exactly what to do and this is the time that we need to call on a higher power - and for us, that’s Christ Jesus.”
With face masks on and spaced 6 feet apart, those who gathered waved signs of appreciation and lifted their hands in prayer over the White Oak Manor and its residents.
The administrator at this facility told us that their resident who had COVID19 has recovered and their most recent test came back negative.