December 16, 2020 – Today at Crossing Healthcare’s new drive-thru facility, the Dani Rubin Kater Memorial Fund for COVID Care had its first kits distributed to community members. Dani Rubin Kater, 30, passed away from COVID-19 on November 3rd.
Dani’s parents, Bob and Tina Rubin, and her husband, Tim Kater, created the fund to support and provide services and resources dedicated to combating the pandemic. A total of 2,150 kits are being distributed to organizations in Macon County including Crossing Healthcare, HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital emergency room, DMH emergency room, and mental health and group home facilities.
Community members who test positive will receive a voucher for a kit at Crossing Healthcare’s drive-thru facility. The kits will contain a pulse oximeter, masks, digital oral thermometer, CDC-approved surface cleaner, pill organizer, educational and reference materials, and a symptom log.
The pulse oximeter is a small device that fits on the tip of your finger and displays a person’s blood oxygen levels. Dani’s family wants people to use the device to address the seriousness of a person’s symptoms.
“Once she tested positive, her symptoms were really only loss of taste and loss of smell…nothing that concerning,” said Tim Kater. “It wasn’t until a few days later that she was having a little bit of difficulty breathing. We just thought that was part of being sick, you’re not going to feel 100 percent. We just thought that was part of it and we just needed to stay home and get through it. It wasn’t until we got the pulse oximeter that we realized how bad things had gotten. The first reading, we got off the pulse oximeter was 60, where it’s always supposed to be above 90.”
