Beloved worker, father of 4 dies of COVID-19 amid outbreak at SC psychiatric hospital

When doctors, nurses and staff walked into the G. Werber Bryan Psychiatric Hospital in Columbia, Mack Timothy Brooker was who they saw first.

The 50-year-old worked as a correctional officer at the hospital for more than a dozen years, and during that time he often manned the front entrance to the facility. Brooker always had a kind word and a smile to offer, his family said.

But in the era of COVID-19, he was also at high risk. Brooker came in contact with dozens of personnel each day who worked in close quarters with hundreds of patients and who also had exposure to the outside world — where coronavirus was rampant.

Although visitors weren’t allowed in and patients couldn’t leave the Department of Mental Health’s psychiatric ward unless authorized, they still communed with others in their units, and were treated by staff who came and went everyday. In some of the units used to house and treat mentally ill patients with criminal charges, COVID-19 spread quickly.

The first outbreak, in May, infected seven patients in a unit. One of the patients died at a nearby hospital. Then, in July, nearly 50 patients in the ward tested positive for COVID-19, 11 of them sick enough to be taken to Prisma Health for treatment. Another patient died.

On July 12, Brooker was sent home from work with a fever, his step-daughter Julia Christie said.

Brooker’s wife slept downstairs while her husband quarantined in their bedroom in order to protect their children, just in case it was COVID-19, Christie said. For more than a week, Brooker — typically “a mover,” Christie said — was sick and fatigued. He found out he had COVID-19, and when his blood oxygen level was dangerously low, he was taken by an ambulance to Providence Hospital.

Brooker remained in the hospital for three weeks, during which he couldn’t breathe by himself. His body functions slowly deteriorated. His wife and four children were unable to see him in person due to visitor restrictions, but they held on to hope. Judy Brooker wanted her husband to know his own story once he recovered, so she sent Tim Brooker daily text messages about his condition and about what was going on at home.

“If someone paid me a million dollars to believe that he was not coming home, I would not believe it,” Judy Brooker said. “I still cannot believe it.”

Tim Brooker died in the hospital on Aug. 12.

In the weeks since his death, his family held a small funeral service at Leevy’s Funeral Home. During the service, a video montage played. The family wore embroidered face masks with his name on them. His children, wife, sisters and mother grieved while knowing Brooker was with God.

Brooker was a true family man, Christie said — he would do anything for his loved ones, and that began the moment he met Judy Brooker and her two children years ago, when he was just 20 years old. He had moved from Fairfax, S.C., to Columbia to attend Benedict College when he and Judy met at a nightclub. He knew that night he would marry her.

Seven years later, they wed. Brooker was a loving and soft-spoken partner to Judy Brooker’s outgoing, chatty personality. He “spoiled” his wife, she said.

He gave each of his children silly nicknames, Christie said. He called Julianne Peay, 30, “Old Faithful,” because she could always be counted on to pick up her dad when his car broke down. Mack Brooker, Jr., 18, was “Big Head Fred” and 15-year-old Jada Brooker was “Sugar Foot.”

When he turned 50 in early March, the family threw Brooker a surprise birthday bash at an event venue on Two Notch Road. He wore a crisp black suit and bow tie, and his face broke into a wide smile when he realized the party was for him. Family members pledged it would be the last function they attended before physically distancing. South Carolina had just reported its first few cases of coronavirus.

They had no idea the next family gathering would be for Brooker’s funeral.

He was hardworking. When he wasn’t at Bryan Psychiatric, he worked a second job at the Babcock Center, using his bachelor’s degree in social work to help people with special needs and disabilities.

“If I could clone him, I would have, because he was just that good,” said Phyllis Simpkins, Brooker’s supervisor at Babcock. “I miss him everyday.”

The center’s Oakwood Group Home, where Brooker worked alongside Simpkins for almost 13 years, hadn’t reported any positive cases as of Aug. 28.

The S.C. Department of Mental Health did not comment on Brooker’s death. The department contracts with a private health care company, WellPath, to provide nurses and correctional officers at the facility. Brooker was employed by WellPath. In a statement, the company said the outbreaks were “representative of the community” where Bryan Psychiatric Hospital is located.

The Brooker family declined to comment about where they believe Tim Brooker contracted the virus, but they said he took proper precautions and only spent time at work or at home. He was the only member of the household to test positive for the virus, they said.

“He did everything he was supposed to do,” Christie said.

At home, Judy Brooker still sleeps downstairs. She can’t enter the bedroom she shared with her husband without imagining him there, smiling at her.

“Every time I open the door, I can see his face,” she said.

This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.