By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood Haven Health Care is considering an extreme measure to keep its 79 residents safe from COVID-19.
“We definitely do not want this in our building,” Wood Haven Administrator Jeff Orlowski said Friday about COVID-19.
So a plan is being devised to have willing staff move into the facility for the duration of an isolation period against the pandemic.
This morning, Wood County Administrator Andrew Kalmar said the county is not considering a lockdown of the facility at this time.
Elsewhere in Ohio, two assisted-living facilities in Licking County have already closed their doors to the outside world – with staff committing to live there 24/7 – to protect those 225 residents.
On Friday, it was reported that 16 residents of nursing home facilities in Wood County have tested positive for COVID-19.
No other information about the residents or the facilities is being released by the Wood County Health Department, other than the fact that the long-term care facilities are working with the health department to prevent the spread of the virus.
Orlowski said Wood Haven does not have anyone with COVID-19 – and he wants to keep it that way.
He said other long-term living facilities in Wood County are also considering the full lockdown measure. But the logistics are quite complicated, he said. Enough staff has to be willing to make the commitment, and there have to be enough rooms and food for the employees.
“Every single part of the plan has to be perfect,” Orlowski said. “It’s just finding that right plan to make it work. When you go into lockdown – that’s it.”
Commitment would be needed from the right combination of Wood Haven’s 120 staff members to provide nursing, dining, laundry and housekeeping services round the clock.
“We would need enough people for all three shifts,” so staff is relieved every eight hours.
More discussions with staff were planned for Friday.
Across the nation, outbreaks are occurring in nursing homes, leading administrators to ban visitors, confine patients to their rooms and create sterile wings to treat residents who come down with the disease. People who are elderly and have underlying health problems, are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.
In New York alone, more than 1,200 people in nursing homes have died from COVID-19, Orlowski said.
“We’re doing everything we can do to keep this from coming into our building,” he said.
No visitors are allowed and residents primarily stay in their rooms. If residents venture out of their rooms, they wear masks, as does the staff.
Orlowski said Wood Haven was recently running low on masks until it received a donation of 300 N-95 masks from Home Depot.
“Before Home Depot came, we only had 20 left and we couldn’t get any more,” he said.
Like many facilities, Wood Haven has made plans for one wing of the building to be used for quarantine if someone tests positive for COVID-19.
“Hopefully we never have to use it,” Orlowski said.
