TAMPA—Dozens of long-term care workers and members of the state’s largest healthcare union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, held a vigil in Tampa recently to mourn the deaths of more than 1,500 nursing home patients and caregivers – as well as all victims – related to the Covid-19 coronavirus, and to protest the lack of leadership during the crisis from Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.
Nursing home patients and caregivers make up more than half of the 3,000 total Covid-related deaths in Florida.

One by one, caregivers and union officials placed 3,000 flowers – representing each death —  on a temporary memorial outside of Rubio’s and Scott’s offices at the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse in Tampa.  They were  joined by community leaders from organizations such as Organize Florida and other groups..

“Our seniors and their caregivers in nursing homes have suffered dramatically and disproportionately from Covid-19,” said  Pearl Gooden, a certified nursing assistant in Tampa.. “Senators Rubio and Scott and their bosses in Washington have been absent in solving this crisis so far, and it’s time they step up.”

WUSF News:  By JULIO OCHOA & DAYLINA MILLER • JUN 22, 2020

More than a third of COVID-19 deaths in the United States so far happened at nursing homes.

Now Congress is demanding answers from five of the companies that run them, including one with 69 facilities in Florida.

Consulate Health Care is one of the largest for-profit nursing home chains in the United States. It’s also one of the five that received a letter June 16 from House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who chairs the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, demanding documents on infection control and virus preparedness.

There have been at least 61 deaths and 246 cases among residents at Consulate Health Care’s 69 locations in Florida, according to data from the state Department of Health.

Another 101 Consulate employees have tested positive for the virus.

Nearly half of the deaths happened at facilities in Brandon, Lakeland, and Bradenton.

Clyburn’s letter outlined what he called the long-term care industry’s “widespread and persistent” pattern of deficiencies that include chronic understaffing, low wages, lack of paid sick leave, improper hand hygiene and poor disease prevention practices – all of which have contributed to the crisis.

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found “most nursing homes ha[d] an infection prevention and control deficiency cited in one or more years from 2013 through 2017 (13,299 nursing homes, or 82 percent of all surveyed homes)” such as staff who “did not regularly use proper hand hygiene or failed to implement preventive measures during an infection disease outbreak.”

The report warned, “Many of these practices can be critical to preventing the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.”

Clyburn’s letter also says a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services inspection found that some nursing homes had severe deficiencies in infection control that placed residents’ health and safety in “immediate jeopardy,” including staff members who failed to wash their hands, wear masks, or follow isolation protocols.

The letter asks Consulate to provide a variety of documents to the task force by June 30, covering January 1, 2020 to the present.

These include records on the number of beds; how those beds are paid for; demographic information of residents; wages and paid time off for employees; a breakdown of available personal protective equipment and its use; suspected number of coronavirus infections and deaths; and complaints made about the company.

Similar letters with the same demands were sent to chief executive officers of Genesis HealthCare, Life Care Centers of America, Ensign Group, and SavaSeniorCareSava.

On Monday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., and other members of the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families held an online roundtable discussion on Facebook about the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes.

Deutch stressed that just because the recent rise in Florida cases appears to be residents in their 20s and 30s, doesn’t mean the work to protect the elderly is over.

“We can’t give up preventing outbreaks because it’s mostly younger people, as the governor pointed out, and expect Floridians and nursing homes will be okay because they’re locked away. That’s not acceptable. It’s not what aging in America should look like.”

Deutch said in the 100 days since Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered nursing homes to close to visitors, the state has failed to come up with a long-term, comprehensive plan for the virus.

“Instead, he blamed farmworkers with racially charged rhetoric; he blamed young people. He blamed the media. And it is the most vulnerable Floridians who are paying the price,” Deutch said. “Residents and staff at long-term care facilities account for more than half of the reported deaths in our state.”

Miramar—In the midst of a widespread shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), the state’s largest healthcare union has facilitated a donation of 20,000 KN95 masks that will be distributed to long-term care facilities across the state.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents 25,000 healthcare workers across Florida, arranged the donation from GreaterGood, a charitable organization that supports a wide variety of causes and programs that help refugees, veterans, students, wildlife and protect our planet.

“This donation comes at a critical time, when many nursing homes across the state are seeing the number of COVID-19 cases increase at alarming rates,” said Dale Ewart, executive vice president of 1199SEIU. “The KN95 masks will help protect thousands of dedicated caregivers who are putting themselves at risk every day to care for our elderly and vulnerable loved ones in nursing homes.

According to the state, more than 2,200 nursing home residents and 1,100 caregivers have tested positive for the life-threatening disease.

The KN95 masks offer as much protection as surgical masks or slightly better, but they are not a suitable replacement for N95 masks—the recommended method of protection according to the CDC. The KN95 masks will help supplement limited supplies of PPE that have forced some caregivers to use the same surgical mask repeatedly over several days or in some cases several weeks.

“Protecting healthcare workers has always been our priority,” said Ewart. “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have called on federal and state officials to replenish dwindling supplies of PPE. But the response has been slow and inadequate, so we sought out other solutions. GreaterGood stepped in and truly lived up to its name with this generous donation that will benefit thousands of caregivers and their patients across the state.”

1199SEIU continues to search for additional donations. The first delivery of masks will go out today (May 1) at numerous Florida LTC facilities. Over the next week, they will be distributed to a total of 73 nursing homes.

WINK TV News: A certified nursing assistant at Heritage Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare, who only wanted to be identified by the name “Julie”, said management hid cases of COVID-19 from staff and failed to provide proper protective equipment. She provided proof of employment at the facility to WINK News, but said she feared she would be fired if management knew she was speaking out.

The problems are laid out in complaints filed in early May with the Occupational Safety Health Administration and Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration. The United Healthcare Workers Union East filed the complaints on behalf of members at the facility.

“The goal is to give workers proper PPE. The goal is to protect the patient, to protect the workers, protect the community,” said Margarette Nerette, a vice president with the union.

Nerette said workers at the Fort Myers facility contacted their union representative after finding out about positive COVID-19 cases on the Florida Department of Health website.

“Julie” claimed the executive director told staff there were no cases of the virus, but on April 22, staff located data online that indicated there were cases.

According to the state’s long-term care facility COVID-19 tracking, Heritage Park has had two residents and two staff members test positive for the coronavirus.

In its complaints to state and federal regulators, the union said, “the administration of the facility is violating AHCA directives, CDC guidelines and OSHA regulations for the safety of its healthcare providers caring for COVID-19 positive, suspected COVID-19 residents, and all residents requiring hands-on care,”

The complaint also alleges that staff is entering isolation rooms but not being provided PPE, such as face shields/goggles and not being informed why the patients are isolated.

“Julie” said she has had to use a patient’s nightgown as protection and purchased her own protective gear.

Nerette said the union has filed similar complaints against facilities across the state of Florida, but was not able to provide specific numbers or locations of those complaints.

The executive director for Heritage Park said she was very aware of the OSHA and ACHA complaints but could not comment. She provided a phone number for the corporate communications person for Consulate Health Care, the company that owns the facility.

As of publication, no one from Consulate Health Care has returned calls from WINK News.

This story appeared on WINK News on May 29, 2020.