GREENFIELD — Poet’s Seat Health Care Center has confirmed a total of 14 deaths since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but says the facility seems to be on the mend.
Co-owner Michele Carney said this week that the initial carrier was identified in early March, and the High Street nursing home took quick action by closing its doors to the public.
“Every facility, even now, is at a different stage of the disease,” Carney said. “We weren’t discussing exact numbers because they can sound frightening and things were changing moment by moment, so none of those numbers were real at any given time. You have to understand the data and study it within context.”
Carney said Poet’s Seat has not had any COVID-19 related deaths since mid-April. She said previously there were eight deaths within the facility and six people died after being transported to the hospital.
Poet’s Seat accepted other patients — who had been symptom-free for 72 hours — from other nursing facilities and hospitals so they could recover. She said those people had nowhere else to go, and she’s “very proud” that her facility stepped up.
“We’ve had 34 admissions since the beginning of this — five were negative and 29 were positive for COVID-19 — and 17 have since fully recovered and gone home,” Carney said. “We’re very proud of that.”
She said 20 of Poet’s Seat’s own 60 residents have recovered from the virus, and 12 who are still positive are “healing and getting stronger every day.”
Unfortunately, because older people are more vulnerable to COVID-19, Carney said it was inevitable that all nursing homes would have some casualties.
“That’s very sad for us, but it’s the reality of this disease” she said. “The people we lost were our family.”
Carney said she can assure everyone that no one at Poet’s Seat died alone. She said several people were on hospice before they contracted COVID-19.
“We have a respiratory therapist who has been working 60 hours a week,” she said. “Staff has monitored all of our sick residents, assessing moment to moment, starting IV fluids, making sure they are taken care of and kept comfortable. Someone was always there at the end.”
Carney said she believes Poet’s Seat has seen the worst of the virus. She said 14 staff members had also tested positive over the past couple of months, and all but two have returned to work.
“We’re testing all staff and residents,” she said. “We’re taking every measure appropriate, including cohorting residents as best we can and practicing all of the safety measures care facilities are expected to take.”
Poet’s Seat Health Care Center is a one-floor, 63-bed facility that has mostly two-bed rooms but also a couple of four-bed rooms, so she said it hasn’t been as easy for residents to be separated like in the other two facilities in Greenfield because those testing positive can’t be moved to another floor. Carney said it is also difficult to move people back and forth from room to room — especially those who have had a roommate for years and don’t want to be separated — because at any time during the pandemic, about half of its residents were positive for COVID-19.
“We’re doing, and have been all along, the job we need to do,” she said. “Our residents are very well-contained and cared for here.”
Through the pandemic, Poet’s Seat has sent out weekly letters and made weekly calls to residents’ families. Carney said some have been able to visit with family members through windows.
“Our staff has used cellphones and iPads to keep residents connected with family,” she noted.
While there are currently no group gatherings or activities, Carney said one person at a time, if that person has tested negative, is allowed to get up and get out of his or her room for a short walk, and staff members are keeping all residents engaged — singing, celebrating Cinco de Mayo and more.
“Everyone is required to wear a mask when out of their rooms, and our staff wears them all the time,” she said.
Carney said the last couple of months have been exhausting, but her staff members have worked tirelessly.
“I just hope people realize the kind of work we’re doing and that we care about and for our residents,” she said. “I’d love to see less Monday-morning quarterbacking, because you don’t know what each facility is dealing with during this horrible time.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.