FILL THIS OUT — The daughter of a woman who lives in an Orange County nursing home where 66 residents and 30 employees have tested COVID-19 positive and five residents have died said she’s heard conflicting information about her mother’s condition.
Wanda Beaulac said she was first told her mother, Wanda Belt, tested negative for the virus. Then, she said, she was told that was a mistake and her mother, along with everyone on her hall at Ocoee Health Care Center, did in fact have the virus.
“You get angry, you get mad, you get sad. It’s hard. It’s very hard,” Beaulac said.
“It’s hard on a family not to know what’s going on with a loved one,” Beaulac said.
Channel 9 contacted the nursing home for specific comments on each case, but so far has only been provided a general statement about the situation.
Ocoee Health Care Center is one of at least three local facilities that has reported an outbreak of the virus.
READ: COVID-19 outbreak reported in Ocoee assisted living facility
The Orange County Department of Health said Terra Vista Rehabilitation Center has 33 positive residents and 26 positive employees. Officials said 10 have been hospitalized and one has died.
A spokesperson for Guardian Care Nursing and Rehab Center said 42 residents and 35 employees have tested positive. Of those, 31 residents and all of the employees are asymptomatic. Officials said 13 residents have been hospitalized and two of those died.
Guardian Care said it notifies residents and their families as soon as someone in the facility tests positive, usually the same day. Read their full statement below:
“For over 60 years, the care and safety of our residents and staff has always been Guardian Care Nursing and Rehabilitation Center’s number 1 priority. This has been especially true, during the Novel CoronaVirus pandemic that has gripped our country. As no health care provider has had previous experience with this virus, we have welcomed our partnership with local, state, and federal agencies, such as the Florida Department of Health, Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration “AHCA”, as well as, the Centers for Disease Control “CDC” and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid “CMS”. We gladly follow all requirements and guidelines from these agencies and update our policies accordingly.
We have also appreciated the partnership we have with our Residents and their Family Members and legal representatives. Our goal has been to alleviate any COVID-19 related stress and fear we can by frequent communication, as to their loved ones individual health status, as well as, overall Facility status reports, pertaining to COVID-19 and actions being taken. A generous donation of IPADS, has also made it possible for residents to speak with their families and friends on a regular basis which helps to boost morale as well.
Although today we have 35 asymptomatic employees who have tested positive for the virus, there have been no deaths related to the virus. Several who recovered from the virus have returned to work and provided the nursing home with 2 negative test results within a 24-hour period.
Today, we currently have 31 residents in-house, who are without symptoms, and 11 are in the hospital who were discharged with symptoms. The 31 residents in-house who tested positive but have no symptoms of the disease are currently in stable condition.
Of the 11 residents currently in the hospital, all are eligible to return if they recover, their condition is stable and the hospital can provide the nursing home with two COVID-19 negative test results within a 24-hour period. (Four of those currently in the hospital are expected to return to the nursing home in the next 24 hours.) The remaining 7 are reported by the hospital as stable. Our philosophy of care for our COVID-19 positive residents is to do whatever we can to assist our residents to shed the virus as quickly as possible and return to negative status. (To date the Department of Health has assigned to the Facility 2 deaths related to COVID-19)”
Terra Vista Rehabilitation and Health Center provided the following statement:
“Terra Vista Rehabilitation and Health Center is committed to providing excellent care, and the safety of our residents and staff is our highest priority. While Terra Vista has remained COVID-free for the past five months, recent major spikes in COVID cases around the state and the level of cases in our surrounding community has had an impact on our care center.
COVID-19 testing has played a critical role in our ability to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and our facility has been proactively testing our employees every two weeks in accordance with state guidelines. We’ve conducted over 800 tests, which is the reason our facility recently reported a high-number of staff and residents testing positive for COVID-19.
Our staff who tested positive for the virus are prevented from returning to work until it is safe to do so per CDC guidelines. We currently have 33 patients who have tested positive, with the majority of them showing no signs or symptoms. Those COVID-positive residents are isolated from the other residents in the building and are being actively monitored and receiving the highest level of care from a designated team of caregivers who are in full PPE working to support their needs. We’re also having regular clinical conversations with our local health department and local hospital regarding these individuals should they need a higher level of care.
Terra Vista will continue ongoing testing of our team members and residents, and we’re pleased to report we have been identified by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to receive point-of-care tests that will allow us to conduct rapid testing onsite. This gives us an even greater ability to make swift clinical and staffing decisions as we continue working to keep our residents safe and our staff protected.
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, Terra Vista Rehabilitation and Health Center has maintained stringent infection control protocols. This has included our staff wearing masks at all times, regularly disinfecting the building, and other measures that ensure everyone is protected. We are also restricting visitors, our staff are actively screened prior to entering the building, including taking their temperatures daily. We continue to follow the guidance of the CDC, our state and federal regulators and the Department of Health, and we are keeping our family members regularly updated on the progress of our residents and all these infection protocols. At the same time, we are working to keep them connected to their loved ones, as we know this is a difficult time for them with visitor restrictions still in place.
Terra Vista Rehabilitation and Health Center is committed to providing high-quality care to every resident entrusted to us, and our staff are heroes in this crisis, risking themselves to serve those who are most in need. Our care center will continue to make the safety of our residents and staff a priority, today and every day, and are thankful to the community for their support.”
Ocoee Health Care Center supplied the following statement regarding the situation last week:
“We appreciate your interest to report on the current Covid 19 activity at Ocoee Healthcare Center, however, this continues to be a very fluid situation. We are continuing to work closely with Local, State and Federal agencies to deal with this ever changing situation. At this point, all residents and active staff members have been tested for the virus. Ocoee Healthcare’s dedicated health care professionals have implemented protocols to isolate those residents and staff that have tested positive for the virus from the general population. The facility has dedicated various wings of the facility solely to treat the Covid positive residents, implemented extensive cleaning procedures, and contained the remaining residents in their rooms. The facility has been in contact with resident family members to apprise them of the situation. Ocoee Healthcare Center is proud of their dedicated staff and their efforts to halt the progress of this virus and would like to express our deepest sympathies to those families or residents lost and affected by the virus at Ocoee Healthcare Center. Ocoee Healthcare, in coordination with State and Federal Officials, will continue to fight for the health and safety of our residents and staff during these trying times.”