Limited inspection reports show lapses at nursing homes.
Inspections at several Connecticut nursing homes found lapses in infection control and prevention and poor practices for the prolonged use of protective gear necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a half-dozen reports released Wednesday.
The reports provided by the state Department of Public Health are the first detailed accounts of targeted inspections ordered by the federal government on March 20 and later expanded by Gov. Ned Lamont to cover all 213 skilled nursing homes, where the novel coronavirus has infected 6,000 and is attributed to more than 1,600 deaths.
The reports on homes in Chester, East Haven, Milford, Orange, Seymour and Waterford were released without the DPH saying if they were the only six nursing homes with deficiencies or merely the first subjects in a series of reports on how the industry has handled the pandemic.
None of the reports detailed inspections at homes with some of the highest numbers of people dying from COVID-19, such as Kimberly Hall North in Windsor, Abbott Terrace Health Center in Waterbury and Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center in East Hartford.
Av Harris, a spokesman for the department, said there is a delay in releasing some reports. “It takes time to get these completed and posted,” he said Wednesday. “It’s not an overnight process.”
The federal government ordered states on March 20 to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to select nursing homes for inspections. On April 19, Lamont announced the state would be visiting every nursing home to conduct “infection control surveys.”
Multiple requests over the last several weeks for copies of findings from the first round of nursing home inspections went unanswered, even though the governor regularly pointed to them in highlighting what the state is doing to improve conditions in nursing homes. Lamont said Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the federal coronavirus response, recognized the Connecticut effort in a recent conference call with governors.
“One of the things on the nursing homes you might find interesting is the Pence task force — they did give Connecticut a shout out as one of the leading states in terms of having a physical inspection of each and every one of the nursing homes,” Lamont said.
To date, 1,627 nursing home residents in Connecticut have died from COVID-19 or related complications. That is roughly one out of every 13 residents in skilled nursing homes. Those deaths account for more than half of all COVID-related fatalities in Connecticut.
Of the six nursing home inspection reports made public, five show infection control lapses. The sixth facility was cited for failing to notify a resident’s conservator of the person’s change in condition.
The five nursing homes with infection control and prevention violations are Aaron Manor in Chester, Whispering Pines Rehabilitation and
Nursing Center in East Haven, Shady Knoll Health Center in Seymour, New London SubAcute and Nursing in Waterford and Orange Health Care Center in Orange.
New London Sub-Acute and Nursing was cited for failing to ensure infection control practices were implemented to prevent or stop the spread of the disease. The facility didn’t designate an area for staff or visitors to be monitored when entering the building, the inspectors noted, and a staff member removed her mask and stood less than 6 feet away from the surveyor during the visit.
“The surveyor backed up and requested the supervisor reapply the face mask,” the inspector wrote. Another employee entered the building through a rear door without a mask.
The nursing home has logged 81 COVID-19 cases and four deaths.
During an unannounced visit on April 28, inspectors faulted the Orange Health Care Center for failing to develop policies related to the extended use of protective gear in a facility where residents had tested positive for COVID-19. Staff were not required to change out their protective equipment between residents confirmed to have coronavirus and those with test results pending. Orange Health Care had 43 COVID-19 cases and two deaths.