At least four residential care facilities in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region have had no positive COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, administrators say.
The Farren Care Center in Montague, LaBelle’s Rest Home in Shelburne Falls, The Arbors at Greenfield and Quabbin Valley Healthcare in Athol all reported this week that their residents and staff members have all tested negative for the virus, sparing those facilities and the people who live or work in them.
“All of our residents have been tested and came back negative,” Farren spokesperson Christine Looby said. “Half of our staff has been tested and we’re in the process of finishing those tests. We don’t expect any positives.”
Looby said a lot of the Farren’s success started with closing the facility to visitors on March 14. She said the Farren adopted temperature checks of everyone who entered the building, along with daily temperature-taking of all residents. Those practices continue.
“We closed common areas and made sure people were not in close contact,” she added. “Less exposure was and still is important.”
Looby said the 120-bed facility on Montague City Road currently has 103 residents and 150 staff members. She said everyone is committed to social distancing and staff members take responsibility, when they’re not working, to keep their own families and selves, along with Farren residents, safe.
“No one wants to bring this into the facility,” she said.
To the best of her knowledge, Looby said the Farren does not have any clinical staff working in other skilled nursing or behavioral health facilities. She said that question is asked of each staff member every day when he or she reports for a shift. She said physicians and counselors who are at the facility are conducting their other work using telehealth.
The Farren Care Center, owned by Trinity Health Senior Communities, takes care of adults with both medical and psychiatric illnesses or behavioral disorders. The facility combines skilled nursing and long-term rehabilitation with mental health care.
Unlike Charlene Manor Extended Care, which has had eight deaths to date, Poet’s Seat Health Care Center, which reported 14 deaths in early May, and Buckley HealthCare Center, which has had 15 deaths, these four facilities’ spokespeople have said they feel very fortunate and will continue their diligence.
All four facilities said their staff members have the personal protective gear they need and use it, as necessary, when caring for residents.
Carole Musante, acting administrator at LaBelle’s Rest Home on High Street in Shelburne Falls, said everyone — staff members and residents — has been tested by the National Guard.
“We’ve kept strong with our policies,” Musante said. “Everyone has voluntarily been staying inside, though we did have to let one resident go because he wouldn’t follow certain rules.”
She said staff members and residents are asked to wear face masks, stay on the property and practice social distancing.
“No one is walking to the stores,” she said. “We started this very early.”
The facility started taking precautions in early March, Musante said, restricting visitors and asking staff to follow protocol, like self-quarantine, if they didn’t feel well.
She said the current 14 residents have online visits with friends and family, as well as online discussions with psychologists and doctors as much as possible.
Musante said people who have “mixed diagnoses” live at LaBelle’s. The facility is for people with mental and physical health issues who can live independently, but need some help. The age range covers people in their 20s all the way to people in their 90s.
Jason Robertson, president of Magnolia Management Co. in East Longmeadow, which manages the assisted living facility on Meridian Street in Greenfield, said all staff members and residents have been tested and there are no positive cases.
“We took steps very early on,” Robertson said. “We’ve been very lucky. We’re going to continue what we’re doing. Our employees have been great, residents have been so cooperative and their families have been so understanding. That helps a lot.”
Robertson said the facility will continue its strategies,including not allowing visitors, until it’s clear that residents will be safe. All residents’ and staff members’ temperatures are taken regularly, he said, and all employees work only at The Arbors — not at any other facilities.
“We also stopped activities early on and people don’t gather in common areas,” Robertson noted.
The Arbors at Greenfield has a capacity of 76 residents, he said, but the current number of residents is in the “high 60s.” There are about 45 full- and part-time employees.
Quabbin Valley Healthcare took early measures to combat COVID-19 and it paid off, Assistant Administrator Michael Kachadoorian said of the skilled nursing facility on Daniel Shays Highway in Athol.
He said the facility closed to unnecessary visitations on March 11, because he and the owner “saw what COVID-19 was doing in other parts of the world and the United States.”
“We banded together and decided it would only be necessary visitors, like physicians, nurses and people visiting loved ones for end-of-life,” Kachadoorian said. “We took steps right along to keep our residents and staff safe, and we tightened them every time we needed to or were directed by the state to do so.”
The facility finished most of its testing this week, and has complied with all state regulations and kept up its own protocol, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
“Our staff has been extremely diligent,” he said. “They’ve been amazing and we’re very proud of the job we’ve done.”
From the beginning, Kachadoorian said, no one has been allowed in the building until their temperature is taken, and deliveries are left outside the door. He said residents continue to visit with loved ones either through windows or virtually.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.