Tempe care center reports 14 fatalities among 54 virus cases
A month after Westchester Senior Living in Tempe had its first confirmed case of COVID-19, 54 residents have tested positive for the disease and 14 of them have died, according to notifications sent this week to residents and their families.
The facility’s Executive Director Lillian Rastgoo described the last several weeks since the first positive case of COVID-19 was discovered during the week of April 13 as “very difficult.”
“It has been nearly four weeks since then, and we are hopefully past the worst of the symptoms for the residents,” she wrote to residents and families earlier this week.
The confirmed cases have been limited to the Tivoli assisted living and the care center; there are no known cases in the Garden Court or the Villas portion of the community.
Rastgoo said the facility is in contact with the county health department and is following guidance from the county and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said patients with COVID-19 are isolated, and there is an adequate supply of personal protective equipment for staff.
A telephone call to the facility from The Arizona Republic was referred to Volunteers of America Senior Living, a nonprofit group that provides senior housing at more than 500 properties in 40 states, according to its annual report.
Spokesman David Burch declined to discuss specifics but said in an email that the organization was notified that “a number residents and employees” at Westchester Senior Living have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
“Our hearts go out to them and their families during this difficult time,” he said, adding that their health and safety is a top priority. He said he was unable to provide more information because of privacy concerns.
The deaths among Westchester residents appear to have happened recently. Correspondence sent to residents and their families in early May mention a number of positive cases in the care center and in assisted living, but make no mention of deaths. Notifications this week first indicate 12 deaths; a later update reports 14 deaths. The later update says staff members have been ill as well but doesn’t give specifics.
Westchester’s care center, at 6100 S. Rural Road, is rated four stars, or “above average,” by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It rates highly for staffing and other quality measures.
Its health inspection rating, however, is below average. Westchester is one of 74 nursing homes in Arizona that has had at least one infection control violation during inspections in recent years.
In 2019, an inspector said four of 10 staffers failed to provide evidence they were free of tuberculosis. A licensed practical nurse was observed using a bare hand to take medication out of a bottle and transfer it to a medication cup. Another licensed practical nurse was seen touching a bottle of solution and then using the same hand to pack gauze into a wound.
Westchester is one of several longterm care facilities in Arizona that has been hit-hard by the coronavirus.
In Maricopa County, about 150 facilities have reported one or more cases of COVID-19 with more than 1,000 infections and about 200 deaths.
Countywide, two out of three COVID-19 deaths are residents at longterm care facilities, an umbrella term which includes nursing homes, assisted living, hospice and rehabilitation centers. The Republic has documented at least six nursing homes or assisted-living facilities in Arizona with multiple COVID-19 cases and deaths.
The CDC and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are requiring skilled nursing homes to report COVID-19 cases and deaths each week as of May 8. The federal government is planning to release that data to the public later this month.