DPH report shows over 67 deaths at nursing homes in Greater New Bedford

May 29--NEW BEDFORD -- The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) weekly COVID-19 report now reveals just how many deaths have occurred at nursing homes across the state, including over 67 in the Greater New Bedford area.

According to the report, Brandon Woods of Dartmouth has 22 confirmed COVID-19 deaths; Sacred Heart Home in New Bedford 17; Our Lady's Haven in Fairhaven 11; Hathaway Manor Extended Care in New Bedford 11; Care One at New Bedford 6; and Alden Court Nursing Care and Rehab has less than five, according to what the state wrote.

The report does not list the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths at assisted living facilities.

Brad Truini, executive director at Alden Court, said the facility has had two COVID-19 related deaths.

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Currently, Truini said, they have no positive cases among residents at Alden Court and "hopefully that will continue." Brandon Woods of Dartmouth has 10 -- 30 confirmed COVID-19 cases, as does Care One of New Bedford, according to the DPH report. The state only provides a range of numbers of cases.

Sacred Heart Home, Our Lady's Haven, and Hathaway Manor each have over 30 confirmed cases.

The report also showed that though it's not reporting any deaths, Brandon Woods of New Bedford now has an outbreak of over 30 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Previously the CEO of Brandon Woods' parent company Frank Romano had touted the fact their New Bedford location had no cases.

Romano said testing at the location has been conducted every week for six weeks through a collaboration with the Broad Institute, a research institute backed by Harvard and MIT.

"And then boom it comes in and we were COVID-free for a long-time [before that]," Romano said Thursday.

"You have the asymptomatic person that comes in and you take their temperature and they're fine...that's still the problem," he said.

According to Romano, an asymptomatic nurse carried the virus into the New Bedford facility.

Romano called asymptomatic COVID positive people the great challenge of containing the virus and said nursing homes need to be able to test staff quickly before they come into work.

DPH has also begun reporting how nursing homes are faring in a 28-point infection control clinical audit.

Brandon Woods of New Bedford is in adherence with a score of 25 out of 28, but Brandon Woods of Dartmouth is not in adherence although they have a score of 27 out 28.

The report lists its reason for non-adherence as core competencies, which means they missed at least one of the six core competencies on the 28-point checklist.

To be in adherence a nursing home has to score at least 24 out of 28 and meet all six core competencies.

The core competencies include keeping COVID-19 residents separate from residents who aren't infected, having all congregate spaces closed, and having staff trained on donning and doffing appropriate personal protective equipment and demonstrating competency in wearing the equipment during patient care, among others.

When asked which core competency Brandon Woods of Dartmouth didn't meet, Romano said they had a staff member walk out of her office without putting on all her gowns and other personal protective equipment.

Romano attributed the error to forgetfulness

"People are people," he said, "It's impossible to get staff to be 100% all of the time, that's been my observance in my lifetime."

Alden Court was also not in adherence, though they scored 27 out of 28.

Truini said since the initial round of audits on May 15, there has been another round of audits and they received a 28 out of 28 and are in adherence.

After the initial audit Truini said, "We went back and looked at all of those areas and made sure we were in compliance on the next audit."

He did not specify which core competency they didn't meet initially.

"The staff has done a terrific job in following infection control guidelines.. . and really not cutting corners," Truini said.

In total only five residents at the nursing home have tested positive for COVID-19 and three of those residents recovered, while two died at the hospital.

When asked how they limited the spread of COVID-19 at their facility, at least for the time being, Truini said, "I felt that we sort of jumped on everything early when the virus was starting and I do believe that helped this particular home and staff are staying the course."

Our Lady's Haven in Fairhaven was also not in adherence, scoring 25 out of 28, it's reason for not being in adherence was core competencies.

The Standard-Times reached out to Our Lady's Haven in Fairhaven for comment, but did not hear back before deadline.

Brandon Woods of New Bedford was in adherence with a score of 25 out of 28, Care One of New Bedford was in adherence with the same score, and Sacred Heart Home was in adherence with a score of 27 out of 28.

The DPH report also showed that all nursing home facilities in the Greater New Bedford area have achieved a baseline testing threshold for residents and staff.

Nursing facilities must meet the threshold of testing at least 90% of all nursing home residents and staff for COVID-19 in order to qualify for additional funding through the commonwealth's COVID-19 Nursing Facility Accountability and Support Program.

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