A patient of Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to multiple employees and families of patients at the facility.
BeaverCountian.com was first notified today by an employee of the facility that a patient in section 4 East had contracted COVID-19.
“Nursing staff was told by their unit director that they do have at least one confirmed case,” said the employee, who is not being named because they are not authorized to speak with the press.
Soon after, multiple family members of patients began telling BeaverCountian.com they were receiving phone calls from the facility notifying them a patient had tested positive.
“I was told the patient has been moved to the hospital and that everything everywhere in the building is under quarantine,” said one family member, who spoke on condition they not be named. “They said they are disinfecting everything and they are optimistic it hasn’t spread.”
Another family member said that staff at the facility “told (them) that they felt their measures had successfully contained the infection.”
Beaver County Commissioners told BeaverCountian.com they were also aware of the situation.
The nursing home had already implemented a building-wide preventative quarantine as of March 12 that prohibited family and non-essential individuals from entering the facility.
It is unclear how the patient may have contracted the virus.
BeaverCountian.com called the center at about 3:30 this afternoon. After holding, the woman who had answered the phone came back and answered, “Thank you for holding. We do not have a comment at this time.” Then she hung up.
Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center is a 589 bed nursing home located in Brighton Township. The nursing home was formerly known as “Friendship Ridge” when it was publicly owned by Beaver County, which sold the facility in 2013 to the for-profit Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services. The nursing home participates in both medicare and medicaid funding for patients.
Public health officials have expressed significant concern about the impact COVID-19 could have in nursing facilities across the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults 65 years and older are at higher risk for suffering severe illness from the virus. The CDC estimates 31-70 percent of infected adults ages 85 and older require hospitalization, with 31-59 percent of adults ages 65-84 years old needing hospitalized.
Medicare gives Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness an overall facility rating of “below average”, with a heath inspection rating of “much below average.” It is also listed as “below average” for staffing levels, but does enjoy the a positive benchmark of “much above average” for quality of care.
BeaverCountian.com contributing editor Lori Boone contributed to this report.
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Only the employees at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness have been free to come and go for a couple of weeks. I wonder if the employees are being tested for Covid-19? Employee testing seems like a prudent idea.
As far as I am aware, employees are only having their temperature checked at the beginning & end of their shifts.
They need to mandate All Pennsylvania , that All new or transferred, long/short term, nursing home patients need to be tested for the coronavirus & quarantined alone until results come back, before being placed around other residents or moved into an occupied or shared residents room. This would also help make the employees more aware and cautious when with the resident.
I’m not sure what happened in this case but I don’t understand why every precaution is not being taken when you look at who’s at greater risk.
this is correct, they been locked down, no visitors in or out. So then you must assume an employee or approved visitors like a doctor brought it in.
Below average !!
The nurses and nurses aides give excellent care. That’s why they are rated above average. The staffing is the biggest problem. How can 2 na’s take care of 46 people? And they expect too much from them. I worked there For over 30 years. I have watched this nursing home go downhill. They are more concerned with the rehab because that’s what brings in the money. God bless the nurses, aides and the residents
Keep your loved ones home with you where they belong no matter what the trouble. they took care of you changed your diapers put up with your bullshit. Keep them safe and secure guard there dignity. Putting the elderly in that place is like putting them in Auschwitz. The residents should be rescued and then the place should be burned to the ground for the protection of the publics health.
The third shift cna and aids arent nice or pleasant with patients and should be fired and i think the death of the patient named Donna G should be INVESTIGATED right away she probably had this virus