Two local nursing homes continue to report no new cases of COVID-19, while a third reported eight deaths this week, five more than it reported last week. Another nursing home and a long-term care facility reported an increase in the number of positive cases.
Quabbin Valley Healthcare in Athol reports its COVID-19 numbers daily on its website. Last week, it reported three deaths from the virus and by mid-week this week was reporting eight casualties.
It currently has 27 residents who have tested positive and 19 staff members. Seventeen residents and 26 staff members have recovered from the virus.
“We’re testing everyone every 48 hours now,” said Assistant Administrator Michael Kachadoorian. He said the nursing home on Daniel Shays Highway still has enough employees to cover all shifts and recently called the National Guard in to help.
“Infected staff stay home and isolate, while residents are moved to our COVID-19 unit,” he said. “We’re still following all guidance concerning COVID.”
Kachadoorian said it is “devastating” to lose residents to the virus.
Michele Carney, co-owner and administrator at Poet’s Seat Health Care Center on High Street in Greenfield, said the nursing home is “still all clear” with no positive cases of COVID-19 this week. She said on Monday that Walgreens will provide the nursing home with the first half of its vaccines.
While Poet’s Seat Health Care Center saw a surge in the spring, reporting a total of 19 deaths during that time, Carney said the nursing home has followed all protocol to make sure it kept the virus out of the building since then. It passed its most recent inspection by the state.
Poet’s Seat Health Care Center does not post COVID-19-related numbers on its website.
The nursing home on Laurel Street in Greenfield reported 26 deaths early in the pandemic, according to Department of Public Health data, but since late spring has reported no new positive cases. According to a spokesperson for the facility owned by National HealthCare Corp., Buckley “still has no active cases” and it’s hoping to keep it that way.
The facility has passed the state’s most recent inspection and is taking precautions advised by the state Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The nursing home on Colrain Road in Greenfield saw a surge in COVID-19 cases in the spring when the pandemic began, but things quieted in late spring and summer, according to Lisa Gaudet, vice president of business development and marketing at Berkshire Healthcare, the company that owns Charlene Manor.
On Dec. 1, there were zero cases and a day later one resident tested positive. By Dec. 3, seven residents tested positive. Today, Charlene Manor reports 33 residents and seven staff members are positive for COVID-19. No deaths have been reported to date this fall and winter, but the nursing home did report 13 deaths in the spring after COVID-19 hit the facility.
Gaudet said all visitations have been suspended and the nursing home is isolating all residents who test positive. Employees who test positive are isolating at home.
“We are taking the steps and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the state Department of Public Health to reduce the spread and impact of COVID-19,” she said.
Those include infection control precautions like wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), screening staff and residents regularly, testing, restricting entry to the building, postponing all communal activities and more.
She said the nursing home is contacting families to keep them apprised of the situation with their loved ones.
Charlene Manor posts its COVID-19 updates and numbers at bit.ly/3hpBaal.
The Farren Care Center, the long-term care facility that plans to move from Montague to Holyoke early next year, reported it was COVID-19-free during the first surge in the spring, but has since reported to the state Department of Public Health that it has between one and 10 positive cases. (The state reports using ranges.)
Spokesperson Christine Looby said it is the company’s policy not to report specifics, so she did not release a breakdown of how many residents and staff are infected.
Looby said although Trinity Health, which owns the Farren, will be closing the local facility, that won’t happen, for several reasons including COVID-19, until at least Jan. 5. Originally, it had planned to transfer residents to Mount Saint Vincent Care Center in Holyoke by the end of the year, but she said the company wants to take time to make sure the transition is done in a comfortable way for its residents and staff.
“We wanted to get through the holidays,” she said.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.