The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
State says Southeastern center ignored guidelines to prevent virus spread
HARRISBURG, PA. » A state-run veterans nursing home in Pennsylvania where 42 residents have died of COVID-19 failed to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, state Health Department inspectors concluded.
Health inspectors said in a report that Southeastern Veterans’ Center, a 292-bed facility in East Vincent, ignored state and federal guidelines meant to control the virus in nursing homes. The lapses put 128 of the facility’s 154 residents in “immediate jeopardy,” according to the Health Department — a legal finding that means Southeastern placed its patients at risk of serious injury or death.
The June 9 inspection found that Southeastern didn’t isolate residents with COVID-19 from residents who had tested negative for the virus; failed to ensure that staff wore protective gear or washed their hands; shuttled nursing staff between COVID-positive units and regular units, and neglected to disinfect equipment.
The facility didn’t have a testing and tracing program, and an infected staffer returned to work two days after testing positive, said the report, which was recently posted online.
“Watching people die was awful. We were told to wrap the residents in a body bag and meet the undertaker at the elevator,” the report quoted a nurse as telling inspectors. “We had problems, we knew some residents had something, but no one would do anything.”
The nurse also told inspectors that “we will be fired for talking to you,” according to the report.
Southeastern eventually turned to hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug that
President Donald Trump once touted as a COVID-19 preventative, according to state Sen. Katie Muth, a Democrat whose district includes Southeastern. Studies have since found hydroxychloroquine did not help hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and may have done harm.
Christina Diaz, whose 87-year-old father, Paul Ferko, was a resident of Southeastern before he became ill and tested positive for the virus in a hospital, said Tuesday the Health Department inspection validates what she and her sister had heard about conditions inside the home, but could never prove. Ferko died April 28.
Many of the staff at Southeastern seemed overwhelmed, said Diaz, and she and her sister came to suspect that staff members there were not telling
“Watching people die was awful. We were told to wrap the residents in a body bag and meet the undertaker at the elevator. We had problems, we knew some residents had something, but no one would do anything.” — The report quoting a nurse as telling inspectors