Just three weeks after the first coronavirus case was detected in Tennessee, WPLN News reporter Blake Farmer reported from the scene as patients of a nearby nursing home were evacuated amid one of the state’s first coronavirus outbreaks.
But that was just the beginning of his reporting on the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing. Through interviews, 911 tapes and other records, Blake went on to break the inside story of the mistakes and circumstances of a tragedy that eventually resulted in the deaths of more than three dozen Tennesseans. He stayed on top of the state investigation of the tragedy and delivered a moving obituary of one of the lives lost.
Blake’s vivid reporting alerted Tennesseans to the genuine danger of the coronavirus at a time when many Americans were unsure whether to take it seriously. It likely saved lives by changing minds.
- Gallatin Nursing Home Evacuation Becomes ‘Truly Horrendous Situation’ WPLN News, March 29, 2020
- Investigation: Before A ‘Tidal Wave’ Of Sickness And Death, A Gallatin Nursing Home Thought It Had COVID Contained, WPLN News, April 13, 2020
- Regulators Find No Fault In Gallatin Nursing Home With Tennessee’s Largest Coronavirus Outbreak, WPLN News, April 24, 2020
- Lives Lost In The Pandemic: Betty Jo Dove, The Gallatin Grandmother ‘With 9-Plus Lives’ WPLN News, April 16, 2020
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