A longtime certified nursing assistant says she is worried that the personal protective equipment provided for the nursing staff isn’t adequate at a Greenwood nursing home experiencing a significant outbreak of COVID-19.
But the nursing home, Crystal Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, said the PPE gowns that particularly concern the employee are approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CNA, who asked not to be identified for fear of job-related repercussions, said the lightweight clear purple plastic “ponchos” with sleeves seem insufficient to her.
“We had yellow aprons that we usually wear on the gowns,” both of which she described as disposable. “We ran out of those on Friday, and they brought the ponchos in, and we have been wearing them ever since Friday,” she said Tuesday.
“I hate it that there are people sick, and they need somebody to take care of them. But the ones who own the place should ... come out there to see the mess going on.”
Joe Gimenez, who represents Crystal Rehab’s parent company, Nexion Health, said the “ponchos, those are approved according to CDC guidelines.” The CDC has a list on its website of approved protective clothing that may be used as a last resort and “as single use” when isolation gowns are not available.
These include disposable lab coats, reusable patient gowns, disposable aprons, combinations of clothing, long-sleeved aprons in combination with lab coats and patient gowns, sleeve covers in combination with aprons, and reusable patient gowns and lab coats that can be safely laundered.
The staff at the nursing home does have plastic face shields, gloves and masks, the CNA said. Lightweight paper masks have been available, and other, sturdier masks were distributed recently.
Fred Randle, Leflore County’s emergency management director, said he has been coordinating deliveries of government-issued PPEs to Greenwood Leflore Hospital and nursing homes in the county. “We have trucks that come in every week to the hospital and nursing homes, and the Mississippi State Department of Health is also sending supplies they need. ... They are getting those supplies they request,” he said.
The latest Department of Health numbers for Leflore County report three long-term care facilities with active outbreaks. That figure includes Crystal Rehab, which accounts for the bulk of the 27 cases of COVID-19 that have been detected among residents of these facilities this month.
Gimenez said 102 of the nursing home’s residents have been tested for the virus. Twenty-four have been confirmed positive, 10 have tested negative and the results are still pending on the other 68.
Although the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, residents who live in nursing homes are particularly vulnerable to the worst outcomes from the virus because they are elderly or in poor health. Some have described nursing homes as a “petri dish” for COVID-19, meaning that once an infection gets into one, it often spreads rapidly.
Five of the 15 deaths from COVID-19 recorded in Leflore County have been residents of long-term care facilities, according to the Department of Health.
•Contact Susan Montgomery at 581-7241 or smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com.
