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| A patient is transported via ambulance from the Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion on Thursday in Seminole. Twenty-seven patients and staff at the facility have tested positive for COVID-19 and 38 patients were taken to hospitals for monitoring, according a statement from the retirement community. [DIRK SHADD | Times] |
SEMINOLE — Twenty-seven people living and working in a Pinellas County nursing facility have tested positive for the coronavirus, and more have been hospitalized, but it took days for that information to be made public.
A
resident of Seminole Pavilion Rehabilitation tested positive on April 9
for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to a
statement by Freedom Square of Seminole, a sprawling retirement
community of 700 residents that includes the pavilion facility. By
Thursday, 21 pavilion residents and six employees had tested positive
for the disease.
Earlier
this week, on Tuesday, Freedom Square officials transferred 38 pavilion
patients to three local hospitals to be monitored. The group ran the
gamut — from people confirmed to have COVID-19, to those with symptoms,
to those with no symptoms who had potentially been exposed to the virus.
Pinellas
County Commissioner Pat Gerard said she was told the facility was
reluctant to transfer the patients to hospitals, but did so when they
became overwhelmed by the outbreak. In its statement, the community said
it transferred the patients to stop the spread of the virus and to
focus on the remaining patients still living in the building.
Officials did not disclose the medical status of any of those patients.
The
Seminole facility is just one of several senior care centers across the
country that have become hotbeds of coronavirus spread. But in Florida,
it’s unclear which facilities are facing infections because state
health officials are not naming the ones where positive tests have
occurred.
“What
is the governor trying to hide? And why is he trying to bully people
who want answers?” Barbara DeVane, of the Florida Alliance for Retired
Americans, said during a Thursday conference call led by state Democrats
and senior advocates.
“This
is disgusting,” DeVane said, “and people better realize that their
rights under the Constitution will be trampled upon if they don’t sit
up, take notice and do something about it.”
Freedom
Square executive director Michael Mason said the company is working to
share information with patient families, employees and health officials.
"This
is a difficult and challenging time as our community and state work to
contain the spread of COVID-19," the community’s statement said. "As a
senior living community, our priority is to protect the health and
safety of our patients, residents and employees.”
On
its website, Freedom Square is described as a 15-acre retirement
community offering a progression of services, from independent living to
assisted living and long-term care. The site describes its “quaint town
square with paved brick streets and welcoming gazebo,” all in a
garden-like setting with two ponds.
Elizabeth
Kirkman, 84, who lives in the Freedom Square retirement community, said
residents were told within the past week that 10 residents had been
diagnosed with coronavirus. On Thursday, she heard that the number had
grown.
“It was devastating,” she said. “I know the halls. I know the people who were in there. It breaks my heart.”
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| A pedestrian walks past the Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion Thursday in Seminole. [DIRK SHADD | Times] |
No
visitors have been allowed into the community, she said. Her children,
who live in Pensacola and Naples, cannot visit. Residents have been told
to wear masks whenever they leave their rooms and not congregate; only
two people are allowed in the elevators at the same time.
Kirkman’s
husband, Jim, died in March after an illness, she said. For much of the
time he was sick, he was in the nursing facility, in the same area
where she’s heard coronavirus patients were living. His death devastated
her, and because it happened amid the virus’s spread, she’s been unable
to grieve with family members. But she’s grateful that he isn’t there
as more fall ill from the pandemic.
“During
these last few days, I’ve been glad that Jim was dead and out of
there,” she said. “His wing would be a hotbed of a lot of really weak
people that would be getting it. I’m glad he’s safe.”
Lori
Talbot, the co-power of attorney for a 93-year-old wheelchair-bound
woman in Freedom Square, said she woke up to the news on TV Thursday
morning. As of Thursday afternoon, the facility had yet to contact her
about the outbreak.
“We
were just there yesterday. We dropped off things at the front door,”
said Talbot, 55, who lives in St. Petersburg. “I have been trying to
call there for three days and could not get anyone in the nursing
station to answer.”
She
said the facility has sent her various notices about new precautions
since the outbreak began, but yesterday was the first day she saw
employees completely dressed in masks and gloves and taking temperatures
at the front door.
“I
would expect them as soon as they found out they had positive employees
and residents to call family members and let them know,” she said.
Freedom
Square said in the statement it hired a professional cleaning service
to disinfect all centers on the campus. Testing is underway for all
residents and employees, who will be monitored closely to "ensure that
anyone who becomes symptomatic follows the protocols necessary to limit
the spread.”
A
national database assembled by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that
the Seminole center had an issue with infection control in 2018 and
2019. In each of those years, facilities on the property received two
citations from the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services. All four
were a common citation known as "potential for harm." That means
practices at the facility "could lead to harm but no one has been hurt,"
according to Kaiser.
As many as 3.8 million infections occur in U.S. nursing homes every year, the foundation says.
Florida’s
elder care facilities have been operating under lockdown restrictions
since March 15. That means no visitors are allowed on campus and
residents aren’t allowed to go outside. Activities are limited and meals
are served in-room, instead of in communal dining rooms. Staff take
their temperature at the door and are required to wear masks at all
times.
But
despite precautions, the number of COVID-19 diagnoses within long-term
care facilities continues to grow. So far, there are 1,394 cases in
Florida long-term care facilities, according to the latest state data
released Thursday. Employees say they have struggled to fulfill
requirements to wear masks and other protective gear because of a
worldwide shortage.
Priya
Chidambaram, a policy analyst at the Kaiser foundation, said seniors in
centers like these in Florida are at a higher risk of contracting
infections. Florida’s occupancy density in elder-care facilities is 87
percent, which is higher than the national average of 80 percent.
“This
means there are more people in one space and more filled beds,”
Chidambaram said. “And more people is going to lead to more spread, or
at least more instances of where spread can happen.”
She
also said of Florida: “The lack of data is telling. We won’t truly know
the extent of the problem until there’s national-level data that can
attribute how many deaths in nursing homes are from coronavirus.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced plans for the Florida National Guard to assist “strike teams” that conduct COVID-19 tests inside
nursing homes and assisted living facilities around the state. Teams
have already been sent to 93 facilities where residents tested positive,
he said.
Meanwhile, a trade group is asking DeSantis to grant new immunity provisions that would protect long-term care facilities from negligence suits related to the coronavirus.
On
their conference call Thursday, Florida Democrats and senior advocates
called on the governor to release more information about senior
facilities impacted by COVID-19.
The
lack of transparency about positive cases and testing is “like a hand
grenade waiting to go off,” said Bill Sauers, president of the Florida
Alliance for Retired Americans.
“And it’s going to take so many down once it does.”
Sen.
Gary Farmer, D-Ft. Lauderdale, blasted the Florida Health Care
Association’s request for civil and criminal liability immunity, saying
such protections for a private industry would be outrageous and
unconstitutional.
“The
governor has a chance here to intervene in a positive way for the
protection of our nursing home residents and workers and assisted living
facility residents and workers,” Farmer said.
Full Article & Source:
Seminole nursing home has dozens of coronavirus cases; 38 patients taken to three hospitals
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