Name: Delaware County assisted living facility struggling with virus spread, lack of government help
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Delaware County assisted living facility struggling with virus spread, lack of government help

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&nbsp;With few skilled nurses, little PPE and growing frustration with health officials, a Delaware County facility is struggling to keep coronavirus from spreading among its 90 residents and 60 staff.With few skilled nurses or masks and other protective gear, the Inn at Bear Trail is struggling to keep the coronavirus from spreading among its 90 residents and 60 staff members, an official there says.And, she says, health officials are ignoring concerns and hospitals are refusing residents already stricken with COVID-19.With a large proportion of all reported deaths in Ohio connected to long-term care facilities, preventing spread is critical.&gt;&gt; This story is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. You can find more stories on coronavirus here. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Columbus Dispatch at subscribe.dispatch.com.The executive director of the facility, located just north of Polaris Fashion Place in southern Delaware County, recently emailed her frustrations to families."When we have had positive cases in the Brooke (memory care unit), we have sent the residents to the hospital," wrote Carrie Kuhr. "This has led to an extremely adversarial relationship with the hospitals as they feel we should be able to treat in place."Kuhr said residents who have Alzheimer’s, dementia or other memory care issues often mingle, unable to take instruction about social distancing."It is virtually impossible to isolate a wandering resident with a cognitive impairment," she wrote.Those who have tested positive for the virus have been taken to the hospital, in part to separate them from the other residents and staff."I have been relentless in my calls to the Ohio Department of Health, our local Delaware Health Department, our legislators and regulators begging for help and am getting opposition at every turn," she wrote.A photograph sent to the Dispatch on Wednesday showed a team of officials visiting the facility. As they enter the lobby, each is wearing a face mask. However nursing home staff say they are "grossly ill-equipped" and have no N95 masks, which can screen out viruses.The team advised Kuhr to build a wall in the facility’s memory care unit to isolate COVID-19 patients from others who might be exposed, Kuhr said in her email.She countered that this new unit would require 24-hour attention from a nurse and a nurse’s aide and that some healthy residents would need to double up in apartments.Kuhr wrote that health officials told her to ask hotels to donate sheets that they could make into masks and gowns, that some N95 masks might be provided for clinical staff only and that widespread testing of the facility was not available, Kuhr wrote."So we are being asked to care for your loved ones with equipment that may not even be properly protecting our staff," Kuhr wrote.Friday afternoon, Kuhr said that one hospital, which she would not identify, had agreed to keep the COVID-19-positive patients even if their conditions improved.The Ohio Department of Health said it is trying to be responsive."The facility can request both PPE and resources through their local emergency management agency," said Melanie Amato, department spokeswoman. "The local EMA can then request the PPE through the state and reach out to other facilities for staffing needs. This has been done in several counties in Ohio."The Delaware General Health District said it has provided masks and other assistance to Kuhr. Although Shelia Hiddleson, health commissioner, said she couldn’t recall how many or when."I am not going to address other allegations in (Kuhr’s) letter," she said. The district will continue to help all nursing facilities in the county who need it.The Inn at Bear Trail has now hired a private lab to conduct testing, the cost of which will be billed to residents’ insurance.And Kuhr hopes that more hospitals will agree to take in high-risk patients who can’t easily be quarantined.An OhioHealth spokesman said: "If you are a positive COVID-19 patient but do not have acute symptoms, you would be advised to quarantine at home." Grady Memorial Hospital in Delaware is part of the OhioHealth system.Jennifer Kaelber, of Westerville, said she understands why hospitals want less-sick patients to return home."But my father’s home is with 50 other people," she said, referring to her 80-year-old father who has Alzheimer’s and has been at Bear Trails since January.dnarciso@dispatch.com@DeanNarciso

&nbsp;With few skilled nurses, little PPE and growing frustration with health officials, a Delaware County facility is struggling to keep coronavirus from spreading among its 90 residents and 60 staff.With few skilled nurses or masks and other protective gear, the Inn at Bear Trail is struggling to keep the coronavirus from spreading among its 90 residents and 60 staff members, an official there says.And, she says, health officials are ignoring concerns and hospitals are refusing residents already stricken with COVID-19.With a large proportion of all reported deaths in Ohio connected to...

Delaware County assisted living facility struggling with virus spread, lack of government help

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