Pittsburgh-area nursing homes are taking a careful approach to reopening to visitors as the number of COVID-19 cases spikes to record levels and deadlines loom for testing staff and residents for the highly contagious disease.
None of the biggest nursing homes in Western Pennsylvania have yet posted visitation rules and procedures on their websites, among the state requirements issued over the weekend to help determine when doors can be reopened to visitors. At the same time, some operators are scrambling to meet a July 24 deadline for testing all staff and residents for the disease, which also has to happen before visits can begin.
Development of visitation plans is occurring as the number of new COVID-19 cases has been breaking records in Allegheny County, with new cases nearly quadrupling to 290 cases in two weeks in June, according to the state Department of Health. The sudden spike is complicating plans for reopening nursing homes, which account for 70% of COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania, including staff and residents.
“We’re going to give it our best shot, but it’s going to be complicated,” said Presbyterian SeniorCare spokeswoman Lisa Fischetti. “What you don’t want to do is open the door a little bit, then have to shut it again.”
Pennsylvania has about 700 nursing homes where 76,652 people live. Visitors have been banned since March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but facilities have made arrangements for “window visits” and sometimes visits outside on facility patios or in courtyards.
On Saturday, the state issued updated guidance on what will be required before visitation can start, including a list of prerequisites such as operating in a county in the yellow or green phase, having adequate personal protective gear and adhering to written screening protocols for everyone entering the facilities.
Oakmont-based long-term care giant Presby SeniorCare, which operates 15 residential communities in Western Pennsylvania, has about 1,100 skilled nursing patients and staff to get tested before the state-mandated deadline. After testing is done, the state health department requires a two-week COVID-19-free period before visits can resume at facilities.
No date has been set for the restart of visits at Presby SeniorCare, Ms. Fischetti said.
Greensburg-based Redstone Highlands, which operates three long-term care facilities in Westmoreland County, has tentatively set mid-July for the resumption of visits, but the timeline could slip, COO Vicki Loucks said.
“Window visits and Skype are helpful, but it’s not the same,” she said. “It’s been a rough couple months for everybody.”
Officials at Adams-based Lutheran SeniorLife, which operates long-term care facilities in Zelienople and Mars, say some form of visitation may start in a week, but details were still being worked out. The Jewish Association on Aging, which runs the Charles Morris Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and four other senior living centers, said the association was still sorting out guidance from the state Department of Health.
“We’re still processing all the directives that have come along,” JAA spokeswoman Tinsy Labrie said. “It’s just so fresh. We’re all scrambling.”
Like Presby SeniorCare, Concordia Lutheran Ministries of Jefferson, Butler County, which operates 14 long-term care facilities, has been rushing to get baseline COVID-19 testing done for its skilled care residents and 3,000 employees before the deadline. A mid-August restart of visits is anticipated, which would ease the hardship that the shutdown has caused patients and families, COO Brian Hortert said.
“This is just brutal,” he said. “No one ever thought they’d put mum in a personal care home and not be able to see her for months.”
At least one health care administrator and 25-year patient advocate believes the suspension of nursing home visits contributed to the death of his mother-in-law, despite getting excellent care in the long-term care facility where she was living.
Jeff Weinberg of Squirrel Hill said his otherwise healthy mother-in-law, Sarah Steckel, 97, was confused by FaceTime visits and eventually lost interest in living because of the isolation she experienced.
“You lose your sense of purpose. You have nothing to look forward to,” said Mr. Weinberg, who called social isolation the second pandemic. “No one is looking at this from a psychological perspective and what it’s doing to people. They’re suffering greatly.”
Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699
First Published: July 2, 2020, 9:53 a.m.
