EMBATTLED NURSING HOMES PREPARE FOR ROLLOUT OF VACCINE
Upcoming delivery hoped to relieve strain on staffing
After more than eight months of waiting, isolating and constantly fighting to keep the novel coronavirus from infecting residents at the region’s skilled nursing homes, there’s finally a glimmer hope in the soonto-be-rolled-out vaccine.
But as San Diego County heads into winter and f lu season, facilities are preparing for the slow process of inoculating health care workers and residents, while bracing themselves for potential staff shortages.
Facilities can borrow staff members from other nursing homes or request support from Health Corps, a medical team established by the state in April 2020 to meet additional health care needs during the pandemic, the National Guard and emergency medical technician
units, as needed.
The county has received requests for additional staffing from 61 skilled nursing facilities since April 30, including eight requests filed since Nov. 24, county communications officer Sarah Sweeney said via email. In total, the facilities requested 324 staff, and 85 were deployed to four facilities: Granite Hills Healthcare & Wellness, Mission Hills Post Acute, Stanford Court Post Acute and Hillcrest Heights Healthcare Center.
Thus far, staffing support has been provided by Health Corps registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants and paramedics; Cal-MAT-licensed nurses, emergency medical technicians and paramedics; and National Guard paramedics. There are currently seven staffing requests under review.
This week, county health officials announced that critical health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff will be the first to receive the initial distribution of 28,275 doses of the vaccine. The required second dose will be given with the next shipment.
The bed capacity in skilled nursing homes alone is 9,145, according to the California Department of Public Health, and that doesn’t include the residents of memory care and assisted living facilities, who are also in the region’s most vulnerable demographic.
“There is help on the way — vaccines will soon be shipped out across the nation,” Supervisor Greg Cox said during a recent press briefing. “But it’s not going to be as easy as walking up to a clinic and getting a shot.
We’ll be following the federal CDC guidelines and making the first doses of the vaccine available to health care workers on the front lines, and individuals most at risk living in long-term, residential care facilities.”
The Centers for Disease Control has launched the The Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care Program with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to facilitate safe vaccination to nursing home residents and staff. Nursing homes signed up for the program will work with the pharmacies, who will handle the cold-chain management, on-site vaccinations and fulfillment of reporting requirements during the vaccination process.
Between 90 percent and 95 percent of all skilled nursing facilities in California have enrolled in the program as of Dec. 1, according to the CDC.
Several local skilled nursing homes have signed up for the program, including Vi at La Jolla Village, Reo Vista Healthcare, La Mesa Healthcare Center, San Diego Post-Acute Center, Aviara Healthcare Center, Poway Healthcare Center, University Care Center, Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare Center, La Paloma Healthcare Center and Villa Las Palmas Healthcare Center.
Vi at La Jolla Village — a continuing care senior living facility that includes skilled nursing, memory care and assisted living units — is eagerly awaiting the day when its residents and staff can access the vaccine, spokeswoman Theresa Latosh said in an email.
“We have worked tirelessly to keep our residents and staff safe from Coronavirus,” Latosh wrote. “The looming approval of a vaccine leaves us with great hope. We optimistically await getting back to the many activities and long withheld personal interactions that have affected seniors disproportionately.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported this week that as of Nov. 29, there have been 377,510 confirmed resident cases and 322,690 confirmed staff cases at nursing homes across the country since the pandemic began. This includes 27,495 cases of COVID-19 among nursing home residents in California. Thus far, novel coronavirus infections have caused 76,542 resident and 1,162 staff deaths.
Last week’s CMS report for Nov. 22 stated there were 354,313 confirmed and 169,733 suspected cases of novel coronavirus among nursing home residents and 72,642 resident deaths.
County communications officer Sweeney said in an email that the nursing home statistics reported last week are the most recent data, and that the county will report its new numbers next Wednesday.
Last Wednesday, San Diego County off icials reported 26 active outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities, including 10 new outbreaks, which brought the total to 109, up from the 99 reported on Nov. 18. Since the begin
ning of the pandemic, 1,468 residents and 917 health care workers have tested positive for the virus, and a total of 208 have died as of last week.
Unlike outbreaks in community settings, which are defined as three or more related cases from separate households, outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities are deemed active when one resident or health care worker from the facility tests positive for the novel coronavirus. An outbreak is deemed inactive once no one has tested positive for at least two weeks.
The only facilities that haven’t had either a resident or a health care worker test positive for the novel coronavirus are Monte Vista Lodge in Lemon Grove and Somerset Subacute and Care in El Cajon, according to California Department of Public Health data.
Until this week, Arroyo Vista Nursing Center in San Diego was another facility that had not yet reported a single case of the virus.
According to the state’s data, there are currently fewer than 11 health care workers and no residents who have tested positive for the virus at Arroyo Vista. The state doesn’t report exact COVID-19 numbers when there are 10 or fewer cases in a skilled nursing facility category.
For the online version of this story with novel coronavirus details for all 86 skilled nursing facilities, visit www.caregiversd.com. The San Diego Union-Tribune is looking to speak with family caregivers with loved ones living in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities for ongoing COVID-19 coverage. If interested, email lauren.mapp @sduniontribune.com.