Yudichak: Program to aid nursing homes in pandemic successful

The Citizens' Voice - 10/29/2020

Oct. 29--DALLAS -- Officials on Wednesday touted the success of a regional program established to help protect nursing home residents and employees during the coronavirus pandemic.

The NEPA Nursing Home SOS Program has raised over $1 million and distributed 828,825 items of personal protective equipment, infection-control and symptom-screening materials to over 30 facilities in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Carbon and Monroe counties since the program was established in April, state Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Swoyersville, said at a news conference outside The Meadows Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Yudichak said the elderly and infirm are the most vulnerable to the deadly nature of the coronavirus and noted that 512 nursing home residents in Northeastern Pennsylvania died from COVID-19, representing over 70% of COVID-19 deaths in the region. Statewide, as of Tuesday, 5,706 nursing home residents accounted for 65% of the 8,696 COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania.

Luzerne County Manager David Pedri said that when nursing home deaths began spiking in the early days of the pandemic, "we did not know exactly what was going to happen next."

After hearing from nursing home advocacy groups about difficulties acquiring PPE and other life-saving items, Yudichak worked with AllOne Foundation and Charities executive director John Cosgrove and board chairman John Moses to establish SOS program. They identified One Point Office Solutions as a company that could establish a PPE supply chain and get the items to nursing homes.

AllOne matched a $500,000 donation from Earth Conservancy, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties each kicked in $250,000 in federal CARES Act funding, and the Luzerne Foundation and Carbon County Community Foundation each contributed $5,000 toward the purchase of supplies.

Cosgrove called it a "remarkable partnership" of government, nonprofit, philanthropic and corporate sectors working together to protect "our most vulnerable friends and neighbors in the senior community."

Adam Marles and Zachary Shamberg, CEOs of nursing home advocacy groups Leading Age PA and Pennsylvania Health Care Association, respectively, said the program was a godsend.

"We knew we didn't have what we needed to keep people safe," Marles said.

Christina Tarbox, administrator at The Meadows, which to date has not had any residents test positive for COVID-19, said it's "concerning that despite all our efforts to stop the virus, there is still a risk it can enter our nursing home. That's why the SOS program is so important."

Meadows employee Suzanne Gensel, whose father is a resident there, said having an adequate supply of gloves, masks and face shields is "a key factor in keeping residents safe."

Yudichak called the state Department of Health's response to providing nursing home guidance and issuing requirements "chaotic" at the start of the pandemic, and he attributed spikes in nursing home cases and deaths early on to the "tragic mistakes" of Pennsylvania and other states requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients.

Since then, he said, response has improved, but more funding to enable nursing homes to hire additional staff is still needed, and government distribution of PPE also must improve.

And COVID-19 case numbers in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania and other parts of the country are spiking as the weather grows colder.

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in Luzerne County had a cumulative total of 503 residents with COVID-19 as of Aug. 22. That number increased by 46 over a two-month period. As of Tuesday, just a week later, the county saw those case numbers increase by 33, to 582. Long-term care facility deaths related to COVID-19 increased from 131 as of Aug. 22 to 135 as of Tuesday.

Yudichak said the SOS program still has a little more than $300,000 remaining, "which is enough to get through the fall and into next year."

Contact the writer:

smocarsky@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2110, @MocarskyCV

___

Visit The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at citizensvoice.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.