The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘I worry about my mother 24-7’
Families fret over loved ones they can’t visit in senior care facilities.
On Friday, the state’s first known nursing home death related to COVID-19 was confirmed by the Dougherty County coroner, and the state’s largest long-term care trade association said there could be as many as 10 facilities with positive test cases of the infection.
But as the coronavirus has spread to more Georgia senior care facilities, thousands of anxious families cut off from physical contact with their loved ones have little information from the state about how its oversight system is working to protect this vulnerable population.
The Department of Public Health does not report data for outbreaks in senior care facilities in its daily online updates.
On Thursday, the agency confirmed via email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that there were three “confirmed outbreaks” in longterm care facilities, without providing much detail. An agency spokeswoman did not respond to a request for updated data by the deadline Friday.
And the state’s lead regulator for senior care facilities — responsible for inspecting nursing homes, assisted living and personal care homes — is not providing regular public updates on its oversight efforts. The agency’s public affairs office will only respond by email.
The Department of Community Health “does not issue guidance on infection prevention or outbreaks of infection disease,” according to a statement it provided. DPH, it said, is the lead agency with regard to “reporting, prevention and response effort to infectious disease outbreaks,” though DCH has an “established protocol” with its sister agency for coordination of such cases.
All of this means families must rely on commitments by individual facilities and their leaders to be transparent and report what’s going on. In many cases, facilities have stepped up with phone calls, special websites to update developments and video chats to ease families’ anxieties.
In some cases, senior care communities have allowed families to install cameras in their loved one’s room so they can communicate and monitor care. Camilla White installed an Amazon Echo Show device in her 90-yearold mother’s room. They are talking three or four times a day using the device and an app on White’s phone. It allows White to monitor the care her mother is receiving at the Carrollton senior care facility where she has lived several years.
Like many, White still goes to the facility. But instead of going inside, she goes to her mother’s window, and the staff pushes the wheelchair so her mother can talk through the glass. White said she feels a need to let the facility know she is still keeping up with her mom’s care to ensure it doesn’t slip during this crisis.
“You have to hold these communities accountable,” she said, adding that she felt initially the home wasn’t doing enough to protect residents from the virus. After she lodged her concerns, she said, the facility stepped up efforts.
“I worry about my mother 24-7,” she said. “I always worry about her. That’s why I’m so well known to the staff.”
PruittHealth, based in Norcross, recognized the stress the crisis places on the families it serves across more than 100 nursing homes and senior care facilities in the Southeast.
In response, the company created an emergency call center that operates 24 hours a day to communicate with families and help them schedule video chats with loved ones. It also created an emergency preparedness webpage to give regular updates and provide status reports on all its facilities. If a particular nursing home has a positive test, its status moves to a Code Red, alerting family members and the public to the home’s status.
As of Friday, the company had three homes in Georgia with positive tests, including its Palmyra facility in Albany, where the company reported on Thursday that a patient tested presumptive positive for COVID-19, although that person was asymptomatic.
A news release on Thursday said the facility was monitoring other residents with symptoms, had notified all staff and residents, and had implemented extra safety and infection-control measures. The company also launched a television ad campaign on Friday in several markets to try to reassure the public of its commitment to safety.
“We take the approach that we’re going to be hyper-communicative,” said Neil Pruitt, the company’s chairman and CEO. “If we have a location that has a positive, we’re going to let the family members know . ... We feel like if we can get out in front of this and give them a sense of comfort that we’re doing absolutely everything we can, that they will work with us and work to understand it.”
Its Palmyra facility had the first known coronavirus death in a Georgia senior care facility. Test results showed that a resident who had died at the home on Sunday had COVID-19, according to Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler. PruittHealth issued a statement Friday confirming the death and offering condolences to the patient’s family.
The state’s long-term care professionals are also struggling to get updated information from the state, such as on testing requested and results reported for residents in care facilities.
Tony Marshall, CEO of the Georgia Health Care Association, which represents 90% of the state’s nursing homes and dozens of assisted living facilities, said they want updates about possible outbreaks so they can monitor needs and offer support. His group believes information is critical during this crisis and has encouraged its members to be transparent. But he said the group had not received fresh updates from the state of specific center outbreaks since Thursday.
“We’re trying to analyze risk and help inform,” he said. “People in the public right now are simply scared. Anytime you can help communicate what’s happening is really good.”
Melanie McNeil, who is the state’s long-term care ombudsman and president of the National Association of State Long-Term
Care Ombudsman Programs, said that because of federal guidelines issued last week, her office now has restricted access to facilities. On Wednesday, she wrote to the federal administrator who oversees nursing home regulation to seek broader access across the country.
She understands the need to protect against the virus but worries about what is happening with no one outside the facilities watching. “That’s my big concern that residents will feel there’s nobody to help me,” she said.
Peggy Lavender, whose husband, Jim, has an aggressive form of Alzheimer’s, said the past week has been difficult. She hasn’t been able to visit at his assisted living facility in Dunwoody, even though she lives just a few miles away. But she gets regular updates from the home and said she has confidence in its caregivers. So she has had to learn to have confidence the system will work.
“I’m a person of strong faith,” she said. “I’m praying for Jim and the other residents. That they are doing what they need to do to care for them.”