Coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts nursing homes show need for reform, advocates say
More than 80 nursing homes in Massachusetts have recorded at least 20 coronavirus deaths among residents — a grim tally advocates say sheds light not only on the pandemic’s devastating toll in long-term care facilities but on issues with staffing and infection control that existed long before COVID-19.
The 4,123 deaths at nursing and rest homes account for 62% of the 6,640 coronavirus fatalities in the state, and reports of staggering tolls have emerged from facility after facility for weeks as families struggle to get updates on their loved ones. But despite their pleas — and those from lawmakers and advocates — the state Department of Public Health did not publicly release the exact toll at each facility until Wednesday.
Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday the state has “seen the positive test rate in the nursing homes go down and we’ve also seen a decline in the death rates,” calling the pandemic’s ravaging of nursing homes “terribly difficult.”
Yet dozens of people continue to die of the coronavirus in Massachusetts nursing homes each day, according to state data. Among those with the highest overall tolls: the Julian J. Leavitt Family Nursing Home in Longmeadow, where 66 people have died; Mary Immaculate Nursing and Restorative Center in Lawrence with 64; Courtyard Nursing Care Center in Medford with 60; Belmont Manor Nursing Home with 55; and Katzman Family Center for Living in Chelsea with 52.
The Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, where 76 veterans have died in an outbreak now under state and federal investigation, and the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home, where 31 residents have died, are reported separately.
Tara Gregorio, president of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association, said facilities are working to “implement an evolving set of standards” for infection control, testing, symptom monitoring and PPE, with progress “reflected in the increasing number of recoveries.”
But Marlishia Aho of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which has 2,000 union workers across 30 nursing homes, said staffing, testing and training for infection control remain problems.
Nurses and advocates say longstanding issues with staffing, communication and infection control were exacerbated early in the pandemic by an initial lack of testing and both access to and mixed messages on the use of personal protective equipment.
“When you don’t have enough staff to properly give these patients the quality of care they need, you’re going to have problems like this continue,” said Erin Saykin, a certified nurses’ aid at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home who tested positive for COVID-19.
The Baker administration has announced two infusions of $130 million for aid struggling nursing homes. The second installment hinged on testing at least 90% of residents and staff through May 25, and passing a 28-point infection control checklist. While all but nine of the 360 facilities completed the testing, only 228 were found to meet the infection control protocols.
Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders on Tuesday said “it’s very much a work in progress” understanding the issues in nursing homes and “putting processes in place” to stabilize them.
Lawmakers on Thursday sent Baker a bill that would require even more transparency. State Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville, who chairs the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, said she wants the state to start reporting infections and deaths among nursing home staff.
“We started asking for the information weeks ago,” Jehlen said. “They’re making progress but it’s really slow.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/36Mhp7u
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