Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Coroner urges probe of nursing home deaths
WEST CHESTER » More than 83 percent of COVID-19-related deaths in Chester County come from long-term care facilities, the Chester County coroner’s office said Tuesday as she called for officials to probe the circumstances behind the spike in deaths at those facilities
Of the 274 confirmed or probable COVID-19 deaths reported to the Chester County Coroner’s office, 229 were residents of longterm care facilities. There are 75 licensed long-term care and personal care homes in Chester County, with nearly half of them experiencing a coronavirus outbreak.
Thirty Chester County facilities have reported one or more COVID-19 deaths to the Coroner’s Office. Seven of those facilities plus a nearby Montgomery County facility have had 10 or more residents die of confirmed or probable COVID-19.
“These statistics don’t begin to tell the story of this tragedy,” said Chester County Coroner Dr. Christina VandePol. “Each death is the death of an individual who lived a long life and will be missed by many, including those who took care of them in their last years, months, and days. Why elders living in congregate care settings, particularly those with dementia or hypertension, are targets of the virus is not yet understood. But they are, and we need to be doing everything possible to prevent more deaths.”
Southeastern Veterans Center in East Vincent tops the list of COVID-19-related deaths with 37; Green Meadows in Willistown has had 31 deaths; Brandywine Hall in East Bradford, 28; Parkhouse Nursing and Rehabilitation in Montgomery County, 24; Barclay Friends in West Chester, 17; Bellingham in East Goshen, 16; Phoenix Center in Phoenixville, 11; Wellington in East Goshen, 10; Arbor Terrace in Willistown, 6; Highgate at Paoli Pointe in Tredyffrin, 6; Simpson Meadows in East Caln, 7; and St. Martha’s Center for Rehabilitation in Caln Township, 7.
Coroners count all deaths that occur within a county, regardless of the residence of the decedent.
In Pennsylvania, 4,342 people have died of COVID-19. Of those, nearly 70% were residents of nursing homes, personal care homes or assisted living residences. Nine out of 10 people in Pennsylvania who died of COVID-19 had one or more comorbidities, the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
According to the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania, there are 37,000 beds in Pennsylvania hospitals. As of late last week, 1,954 of those beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, or just over 5%.
Adam Marles, president and CEO of LeadingAge PA, the voice for nonprofit senior care in Pennsylvania, on Tuesday issued the following statement on the decision by the state Department of Health to release the names of nursing homes that have had residents and employees test positive for COVID-19:
“While well over half of nursing homes in Pennsylvania have yet to have a positive test for COVID-19, LeadingAge PA has previously encouraged the sharing of this information. Our members have focused on providing information in a timely manner to residents, their loved ones and their community — and that will not change. We look forward to working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health on a robust and comprehensive plan for testing to help all facilities in their continuing fight to defeat this pandemic.”
Rohan Blackwood, the commandant of the Southeastern Veterans Center, said in a letter to families of patients there that many safety precautions are being taken.
Among them include a restriction in all large group activities, screening of contractors and vendors prior to entering the facility, monitoring of symptoms of all personal working in the facility, and additional cleaning throughout the facility, with a focus on high-touch areas.
The state is starting to implement a plan to begin coronavirus testing for every resident and employee of nursing homes and other facilities that provide care for older adults.
Gov. Tom Wolf said his administration will undertake the surveillance testing, with a goal of testing every resident and employee once a week, due to the impact the disease has had on nursing homes.
“What we are going to do, which I think is fairly radical, is make sure that we are doing surveillance testing,” Wolf said on a telephone news conference.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro last week opened criminal investigations into several nursing homes amid a coronavirus outbreak that has killed 2,600 residents of nursing homes and other facilities that care for older adults, more than twothirds of the state’s death toll, his office announced Tuesday.
The attorney general’s office did not say how many facilities it is investigating or reveal their names or provide any other details about the specific allegations. In general, the attorney general’s office has jurisdiction in manners of criminal neglect.
“We will hold nursing facilities and caretakers criminally accountable if they fail to properly provide care to our loved ones,” Shapiro said in a written statement. “While we salute and appreciate nursing home staff on the front lines during this pandemic, we will not tolerate those who mistreat our seniors and break the law.”
He said active criminal investigations have begun.
VandePol too, is calling for deeper investigation of nursing homes.
“The scrutiny and planned investigation of long-term care facilities recently announced by both state and federal agencies is overdue,” she said. “Universal testing of residents and staff recently ordered by the state is one step in the right direction, but we need to find out what went wrong and how to do better in the future.”