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Date: 4/15/2020
AGAWAM – Agawam is working to combat the growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths within town limits after a recent spike in the number of those affected at a local nursing home.
On April 9, Mayor William Sapelli’s office announced that a total of 123 residents had tested positive for the virus. Of the residents who had tested positive, 47 were residents of the Heritage Hall Nursing Home, while 76 were not. The nursing home is made up of four buildings: East West, North and South. Sapelli’s office did not specify if certain buildings had been impacted by the number of positive cases or if the outbreak was isolated to a single building.
The number of residents had increased significantly since Sapelli’s April 2 update when only 45 residents had tested positive for the virus. However, in a statement to Reminder Publishing Dr. Richard Feifer, chief medical officer of Genesis Healthcare, which owns the Heritage Hall Nursing Home, only cited the number of positive residents and employees at Heritage Hall West.
He said that the virus was “complex,” “hard to detect” and “can take weeks to present itself.” This, he said, was “why we have been so stringent on visitation restrictions and a whole host of other precautions.”
Feifer said since the CDC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had begun release protocols and guidance for the handling of the virus, they had been “diligently” following such recommendations. He added that often, the organization had “gotten out in front of public health guidelines, adopting even more stringent infection precautions than were recommended at the time.”
The nursing home will, according to Feifer, to “follow to the letter the direction of the Massachusetts Department of Health in an effort to contain and minimize the spread of the virus.”
As of the afternoon of April 10, Heritage Hall West had a total of 57 positive cases within residents and 12 staff members that had tested positive. Feifer said four residents had died, but did not specify if the deaths were a result of the virus or complications due to the virus.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these residents during this difficult time, especially the families of the four residents who passed away,” he said.
Feifer added that the home would continue to work to keep employees and residents safe and healthy.
“I can assure you that we are working round the clock to keep our patients and residents healthy and as safe as possible,” he said. “We are doing everything in our power – and everything medical experts know as of at this time – to protect our patients, residents and employees.”
An Agawam resident shared their experience on a Facebook community forum. They said their grandmother, who was residing at the nursing home, had tested positive, but like many others, was asymptomatic. Additionally, the resident called those working at Heritage Hall, “heroes” who were “sacrificing their lives every day.”
“Without the team at Heritage Hall, she wouldn’t be here today,” they said.
They went on to say administrators had been proactive with testing and were conducting conference calls with the residents’ loved ones via Zoom. “They are bringing in doctors, specialists, the Mayor (who will be on tonight’s Zoom call), and every resource possible to talk to us and prepare us for the situation our loved ones are facing without us there,” they said. “Nurses and aids are in there on the front lines taking vitals three times a day to monitor symptoms and protect the residents.”
Recently, the state set up a dedicated phone line for family members and loved ones of nursing home residents.
The line will allow those worried about their loved ones to connect with members of nursing and rest homes to get information and resources. The phone number for the line is 617-660- 5399.