RI Nursing Homes Are in Chaos
GoLocalProv News Team
RI Nursing Homes Are in Chaos
In just the past three months, one nursing home has announced its closure and another has gone into receivership and come out as well.
Nursing homes have been ground zero for the coronavirus infections and deaths — approximately 80 percent of the nearly 1,000 deaths from the virus in Rhode Island are linked to nursing homes. Rhode Island ranks 5th in the United States for the number of coronavirus deaths per 100,000 residents.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRhode Island Department of Health officials made a series of serious errors in the early stages of the virus' outbreak by returning infected patients from the hospitals back to their nursing homes causing further spread and infection.
Labor Battle
On Thursday, the leading union SEIU held pickets at six nursing homes. In a statement Stefania Silvestri, RN at Genesis Greenville said, “Caregivers are risking their lives and families’ lives to go to work every day and care for our most vulnerable population. But we need proper staffing and tools to care for them the way they deserve. Management cannot continue to stall. We need to let them know that we’re serious about fighting for what’s right.”
Another nursing home worker says the workloads are unsustainable in a post to Facebook.
"Over my 21 years as a CNA, the acuity of our residents has increased and our workloads have tripled but our staffing levels have stayed almost the same," said Dawn Auclair, a CNA at Hopkins Manor. "It's not fair to our residents — they built this country and deserve to have quality care at the end of their lives. But instead of working with frontline caregivers to improve care, management has refused to even provide bargaining dates. Our residents simply can't wait another day for management to take health and safety seriously, which is why we are prepared to strike."
The nursing home industry condemned the labor action.
RI Health Care Association President and CEO Scott Fraser said, “It is unfortunate that the union chose to strike during a pandemic that is having a serious impact on our nursing homes. This action – which includes full homes of workers walking off the job -- will have a detrimental impact on RI’s most frail elderly residents living in our nursing homes. Many of our residents have the same workers caring for them each day. Now the people they rely on will not show up to work. Five of our 64 members are union homes."
“The bottom line is the unfunded mandate the union is advocating for – which would cost $44 million -- will decimate our nursing homes. This could leave workers with no jobs and our most frail elderly residents with no homes,” he added.
Rhode Island ranks 41st in the country in terms of the average number of hours residents receive, according to union officials.
On Thursday, the Rhode Island state Senate approved legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin intended "to protect the health care of Rhode Islanders by setting standards for nursing home care."
The Senate gave its approval to the Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act, which is meant to address an ongoing crisis in nursing home staffing and is, de facto, the union's legislation.
The legislation will establish a minimum standard of 4.1 hours of resident care per day, the federal recommendation for quality care and long endorsed by experts including the American Nurses Association, the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations, and the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, according to Goodwin.
“There is a resident care crisis in our state. Staffing shortages and low wages lead to seniors and people with disabilities not receiving the care they desperately need. The pandemic, of course, has exponentially increased the demands of the job and exacerbated patients’ needs. We must confront this problem head-on before our nursing home system collapses,” said Senator Goodwin (D-Dist. 1, Providence).
The bill will be forwarded to the House, where Rep. Scott A. Slater (D-Dist. 10, Providence), is sponsoring companion legislation (2020-H 7624).
The nursing home industry strongly opposes the Goodwin and Slater legislation and claim it will cause financial ruin for the industry.
On Thursday, Fraser in an unprecedented move issued a highly critical statement of the state's failed testing program.
“Today we are sounding the alarm that the lack of timely test results in our homes is causing harm to our residents and workers. Accurate and rapid testing is a necessity in coping with and managing this virus in our nursing homes and so far, we have been left to guess at where COVID-19 lies,” Fraser said. “RI’s nursing homes must have rapid responses to keep our residents and workers safe. This is truly a matter of protecting lives.”
GoLocal recently reported that daily testing has fallen in Rhode Island from 4,000 testings to about 3,000.
Raimondo and Dr. Alexander Scott of the Department of Health said on Wednesday that the state is "laser-focused" on correcting issues with the testing program.
According to Fraser, over the past weekend, one nursing home learned that after a seven-day wait, that six staff members tested positive. These staff had been working and interacting with residents and other staff during this time. This same home was still waiting more than a week for the results of 30 more employees.
“This virus is quiet and deadly and the residents of our homes have borne the brunt of it due to their frail health and higher age. RI has one of the highest population of seniors over the age of 85 in the nation, making us one of the most vulnerable states. We need the attention of the administration and the tools necessary to combat this virus,” Fraser said.
At least two homes have faced economic failure.
In late June, Hallworth House, a 57-bed nursing home on the East Side of Providence announced that it filed a plan to cease operations with the state’s Department of Health. The closure is anticipated to occur by the end of August.
Hallworth House is the second facility to close. As GoLocal reported in April, Hopkins Manor -- located in North Providence and locally owned -- filed for receivership. It is a 200-bed facility.
For Hallworth, the company had been in a multi-year downward economic spiral.
“The facility had lost more than $1.3 million in the last two years while maintaining high standards of care, but the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to continue,” said Dr. Patricia Nolan, chair of the Hallworth House board and former Director of Health in Rhode Island.
In April, a 200 bed Rhode Island nursing home filed for receivership in Rhode Island Superior Court.
The facility -- Hopkins Manor -- is located in North Providence and is locally owned. Anthony Barile is listed in the state filings as the President of the Corporation.
Hopkins Manor had reported 20-25 coronavirus cases at the time of the receivership, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health.
It has had less than five deaths -- RIDOH refuses to release the exact number.
According to the petition filed in Superior Court, "The Respondents are in need of court intervention because they are suffering financial losses which may result in the inability to pay their debts in the ordinary course of business. The Respondents’ fiscal distress has been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a decrease in the Respondents’ already-limited revenues. Moreover, the Respondents recently discovered that certain residents and staff of the Hopkins Manor nursing home have contracted COVID-19, which is expected to further erode the Respondents’ financial condition and outlook. Petitioner believes that there is a risk of corporate assets being wasted or lost."
Private equity investment firm Tryko Partners' affiliate acquired Hopkins Manor out of receivership for a price of $14.5 million. Tryko and its healthcare affiliate, Marquis Health Services, took will be taking over the operation of the facility from Jonathan Savage of Shechtman Halperin Savage, the Rhode Island Superior Court-appointed special master for Hopkins Manor in June.