County: Sixth death at Granada
Inside a Eureka nursing home, a deadly COVID-19 outbreak — outside, locals and North Coast lawmaker’s office struggle to find more answers
Al Parodi had been living in his own home in McKinleyville until he suffered a stroke in early November. After being treated at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, the 93-year-old was sent to Granada Rehabilitation & Wellness Center in Eureka for rehabilitation shortly before Thanksgiving.
When Parodi learned of the large group of patients there who tested positive for COVID-19, he wanted to go home but wasn’t able to. About a week ago, Parodi tested positive for COVID-19.
“I spent eight months at home avoiding COVID,” Parodi said. “I come here and get coronavirus.”
On Thursday, Humboldt County Public Health issued a press release stating “a total of 69 residents and 25 staff at the facility have tested positive.” Granada’s own website
stated as of Wednesday there were 71 cumulative positive cases among residents and 14 among staff at the facility.
Repeated phone calls and phone messages to the regional manager of the four local facilities owned by Los Angeles-based Brius Healthcare Services — Granada, Eureka Rehabilitation & Wellness Center, Fortuna Rehabilitation & Wellness Center, and Seaview Rehabilitation & Wellness Center — went unanswered. State Assemblymember Jim Wood told the Times-Standard he knew the state has been working with the facility, but his office was struggling to get information about the situation, too.
“I’m pretty puzzled and would like to know how did this break down,” Wood said. “A huge number of people have been affected and we need to understand it, learn from it and correct it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Until there’s an understanding of how things broke down, Wood said it’ll be difficult to protect against the next major outbreak.
A message on the Granada website states that the facility has implemented “an aggressive response to care and protect residents and staff from COVID-19” and is in “close, frequent contact with state and local public health departments.”
“These reinforced infection prevention and control measures have altered the normal operations at Granada Rehabilitation & Wellness Center,” the website states. “We are restricting all visitors except for those whose loved one is at the end of life. We are screening all employees at the entrance of the building for any symptoms that may be suspicious for COVID-19.”
Available data on COVID-19 infections at local nursing homes makes the scope of infections in those facilities unclear.
“With the explosion in the number of cases statewide, getting real-time information is really difficult,” Wood said. “We keep pounding away and try to get it … but today we haven’t really been that successful, quite frankly.”
On Wednesday, the state Department of Public Health’s skilled nursing facility dashboard stated there were 63 active positive cases among residents at the facility, but that dropped to zero by Thursday morning, instead stating there had been a total of 55 cumulative cases at the facility since Jan. 1.
“The data we receive is reported to us by facilities and is provisional, meaning numbers may change as facilities correct or add data,” according to a state Department of Public Health email.
State data indicates that there have been no COVID-19-related deaths at the Granada facility, however, Humboldt County Public Health has reported six residents of the facility have died as of Thursday.
State data also indicated 27 health care workers had tested positive at the Fortuna Rehabilitation & Wellness Center on Wednesday, but that dropped to zero Thursday.
Nursing homes that are eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding are required to report data on COVID-19 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but federal data available as of Dec. 6 from Granada indicates there have been no confirmed COVID-19 infections among residents and just one for staff.
First District Humboldt County Supervisor Rex Bohn said he has a lot of friends who work at Granada and it’s still unclear how the infection got into the facility because everyone was following strict health and safety protocols.
“I hear from people who work there and I know they’re trying to make the people who have it as comfortable as possible,” Bohn said. “And the people who are asymptomatic, obviously, they’re trying to keep them sheltered from the other residents and to meet their needs to the best of their ability.”
Delivering the best care is going to be a challenge without adequate staffing, which is a national problem and worse in rural areas, Wood said.
“If you don’t have adequate staffing, there’s a chance something might not be getting done to the level that they should,” Wood said. “The staffing crisis we’re seeing for (certified nursing assistants), ( licensed vocational nurses) and nurses is a nationwide problem and it’s magnified in rural areas because we already struggle with staffing on a good day.”
As for Parodi, he said the situation for him was “bad.”
“I ask for a cup of water,” Parodi said. “Two hours later I get my cup of water.”