Quabbin Valley Healthcare Assistant Administrator Michael Kachadoorian said early measures to combat COVID-19 when it arrived in March paid off for the nursing home on Daniel Shays Highway in Athol, but it hasn’t been so lucky this time around.
Area nursing homes are starting to see a rise in positive COVID-19 cases again, although there have been no deaths so far, according to administrators. Two of the four nursing homes in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region are seeing a fall surge, while the other two, which had a higher number of cases in the spring, haven’t had many or any yet this fall.
As of Tuesday, Quabbin Valley Healthcare has eight residents and three staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19.
“The staff are all at home isolating for the next 14 days, and the residents have been moved to our COVID-19 unit, where they can receive proper care while being isolated from others in the building,” Kachadoorian said. “We’re now testing weekly as required by the state Department of Public Health.”
He said the nursing home was testing biweekly when there were no cases, but now that there are, the state requires weekly testing until there are once again no positives. He said the facility is doing both rapid testing and the more conventional testing.
“We’re following all the guidance,” he said. “For instance, the staff working on the COVID-19 unit only works on that unit. They enter and exit from outside and don’t come into other areas of the facility.”
Four staff members are in the COVID-19 unit at a time. Kachadoorian said Quabbin Valley Healthcare has a contract with a nursing agency, so if more staff becomes ill, there will be backup.
“We chose to ask the National Guard to help with patient care,” he said. “They will be working with our team for a while to provide support, whether delivering meals, checking vitals, which we do every four hours, or whatever.”
The facility has passed all state inspections throughout the pandemic, which Kachadoorian said goes to show that no matter how many precautions you take, the virus can find a way.
“We’re doing all that we can to prevent any more spread,” he said. “We’ll keep testing until we break the 14-day cycle.”
Kachadoorian said he has no idea where it all started, but the first case was discovered Sunday, Dec. 6.
“It’s hard to pinpoint, but we’re thinking it probably had something to do with the holiday. I think we’re all going to find that Thanksgiving was a super-spreader event,” he said. “We’ve stopped all visits again.”
After a visitation hiatus, the facility had begun allowing visits again in September, but not without precautions.
“We took people’s temperatures and asked them questions,” he said. “We would allow brief periods of visiting, but no contact — there were masks and social distancing and sanitizing and barriers between visitors and residents.”
Kachadoorian said residents are back to Zoom visits with their friends and family. Some outdoor, through-the-window visits are allowed, but must be scheduled.
Quabbin Valley Healthcare has 142 beds and had reported no positive cases until now, with no COVID-19-related deaths so far.
Charlene Manor Extended Care on Colrain Road in Greenfield had several cases and deaths in the spring, but on Tuesday reported that five staff members and 25 of its residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
Lisa Gaudet, vice president of business development and marketing for Berkshire Healthcare, the company that owns Charlene Manor, said the facility isn’t sure how it all started, but believes it is consistent with community spread.
“We’re following all protocol and infection control, as we have been doing all along,” she said.
Gaudet said Charlene Manor has a unit in which all residents who test positive are moved to and quarantined.
“That’s also where people recover,” she said. “I’m not aware of any deaths at this point. We do worry, though, because we care for a frail and vulnerable population.”
Like at Quabbin Valley Healthcare, visits have been suspended. While Charlene Manor was conducting tests every two weeks, Gaudet said testing is being done more frequently now.
Gaudet believes Thanksgiving was a “big contributor.” Also, she said because it’s colder outside, people are spending more time indoors, getting less fresh air, so there is more risk, especially among staff members.
“We’re thinking it came in either with a staff member or a visitor,” she said. “However it happened, this surge is more virulent than the first. Even people who are saying they did everything right and are mystified by how they became infected have tested positive.”
Gaudet said she doesn’t know whether that means there are different strains and some are worse than others, but COVID-19 seems to be spreading more easily.
“The good news is that a vaccine is on the way,” she said. “Until then, we’ll keep everyone as safe as possible, separating the sick from the well, sanitizing, washing hands and wearing our (personal protective equipment) and social distancing and wearing masks — everything we’ve been doing.”
Gaudet said the nursing home has already signed on with CVS and Walgreens, which will administer the vaccine when it arrives.
Charlene Manor has 123 beds and until now had reported fewer than 30 positive cases since the spring, with a total of 13 deaths.
A spokesperson for Buckley HealthCare Center on Laurel Street in Greenfield said the nursing home is taking all precautions and so far does not have any cases. The facility was the first to report cases in the spring, with 17 positives in mid-March.
According to state Department of Public Health reports, Buckley HealthCare has 120 beds, has had fewer than 30 positive cases since the pandemic began and has seen 26 deaths to date.
Poet’s Seat Health Care Center on High Street in Greenfield has 63 beds and until now had reported fewer than 30 positive cases with 19 deaths since the spring.
Co-Owner and Administrator Michele Carney said one employee and one clinical health care provider (not an employee) were sent home this past week because they tested positive, but so far no residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
“The staff member will stay home for 10 days to isolate,” she said. “We’ll continue testing staff and residents once a week and we’ll follow all state and federal guidelines to keep everyone safe. It has been a long road and we just have to stay vigilant until this is behind us.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.