National Guard deployed to Broomall nursing home
MARPLE » The Pennsylvania National Guard Medical Team is being deployed for three days at the request of Delaware County to assist at the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center because of staffing shortages.
Nursing homes have bore the brunt of the coronavirus epidemic in Delaware County. As of Saturday, 397 nursing home residents and 41 staff members in 37 facilities have tested positive, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Of those cases, 54 have died, representing 69 percent of the current 78 virus fatalities in Delaware County according to the Chester County Health Department, the agency handling the COVID-19 care for Delaware County residents.
On Saturday, county officials announced that they had requested support from the Pennsylvania National Guard Medical Team to provide support for staff at the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. The team is compromised of 18 military nurses and medics who will assist the facility in providing routine care for non-acute patients.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency approved the request and the team will assist the nursing center for three days.
“We understand the challenges that many long-term care facilities such as the Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center are facing right now, and together with support from the Chester County Health Department, we are doing everything we can to support the staff, patients and their loved ones,” Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek said. “This call to the National Guard for temporary staffing is one way we are able to provide support.”
Broomall Rehabilitation and Nursing Center is owned by
SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services LLC and is based in Atlanta, Ga. Founded in 2004, the company offers skilled nursing, long-term care, memory and dementia care and rehabilitative services.
County officials noted Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine’s assessment that when
COVID-19 spreads within a congregate population of vulnerable seniors, the virus spreads quickly.
This population is also susceptible to contracting the virus, as well as having severe complications from it.
Based on Chester County Health Department statistics,
812 of the 2,372 positive coronavirus cases in Delaware County, as of Saturday, are patients who are 60 years old or older. That’s
34 percent of the cases within the county.
Statewide, 24 percent of Pennsylvania’s 31,069 cases are in those 64-years-old and above. Of those hospitalized in Pennsylvania, 42 percent are 65-years-old and older.
Also across the state, there are
4,185 nursing and personal care home residents who have contracted COVID-19 and 462 cases among employees among 347 facilities in 35 counties. Out of the deaths in Pennsylvania, 462 have been residents of nursing or personal care facilities.