Nashoba Valley life care center nurse dies from COVID-19

“We kept waiting for the ball to fall,” she told the station. “When are we going to tell us that we are exposed to it?”

The Nashoba Valley Life Care Center has issued a statement of condolences.

“We are deeply saddened as one fellow died during these difficult times the country is experiencing,” said Kate O’Connor, regional vice president. “Our heartfelt condolences go to her family and friends.”

The facility was placed under surveillance last month after accused in Littleton town officials of approaching the infection at the Nashoba Valley Life Care Center. The nursing home denied the charges. Its parent company is the Life Care Center of America, which operates a nursing home in Kirkland, California. This became the center of the virus outbreak in the United States. At least 35 deaths have been associated with the facility.

The company said on Friday that 10 patients with COVID-19 had died at the Littleton facility. 75 staff were unemployed, 14 of whom were virus-positive.

The Nashoba Valley Life Care Center asks all staff to test for viruses. Last week, all patients there were tested through a state program conducted with the help of Massachusetts National Guard, but no workers were tested.

On Saturday, the state said so far the test program has collected more than 3,400 samples at more than 209 facilities. Over 3,200 test kits have also been ordered from trained personnel and facilities that will conduct their own tests.

“Our nurses and frontline workers are the heroes of the fight against this unprecedented outbreak,” O’Connor said. “We are fighting a little-known virus yet, and nurses and staff will continue to provide the best care given guidance provided by both federal and local health authorities.”

So far, the virus has killed 306 patients in long-term care facilities, and state statistics show that about half of 383 nursing homes in Massachusetts are infected with at least one virus. . As of Saturday, 2,645 residents and workers were infected.

Later on Friday, a leader at JGS Lifecare Inc. in Longmeadow published a letter to his family on its website, revealing the deaths of 21 patients and transmission of 136 residents and workers. Last Thursday, the facility said 29 people had been infected.

“In the 108-year history of JGS Lifecare, we have never faced this situation,” said a letter from President Adam Berman and CEO Barry Berman. “Despite our best efforts and preparations, the world-facing COVID-19 pandemic finds a way among the Jewish homes of the Levit family and the walls of the Sosin Center for rehabilitation I did. “

According to the letter, JGS Lifecare hired a private lab to identify cases, as the facility’s efforts to fight the virus were hampered by limited access to tests. Susan Halpern, a spokeswoman for JGS Lifecare, declined to comment on the latest information available on the facility’s website, as well as focusing on residents, families and staff.

Long Meadow officials have issued a statement that a state epidemiologist has been appointed to support the facility.

“This is a very difficult situation for communal living facilities,” the statement said. “Nursing homes are particularly difficult because they provide care to our most vulnerable people.”

Marin veteran and retired computer programmer Tohmaster Bell Russell, 83, died Tuesday after a virus-positive diagnosis at JGS Lifecare. One of his daughters, Ellen Russell, said he last met him on March 11. The following day, the facility stopped visiting visitors.

She said the visit was impressive.

Russell said he had rubbed his father’s back and his arms back and forth. Elder Russell has been living with Alzheimer’s disease for about five years and moved to JGS Lifecare in January.

“I think they did their best,” she said. “I think they were absolutely overwhelmed.”

At the Holy York Soldiers Home, where federal and state prosecutors investigated how the administrator handled the outbreak and Governor Charlie Baker commissioned an independent review, veterans with COVID-19 died 31. Has increased. 76 veterans and 43 employees tested positive for the virus.

The state also said the state oversaw Chelsea Soldiers Home, where six veterans of COVID-19 died and 66 veterans and staff tested positive for illness.

The town of Belmont said on Saturday that all 13 COVID-19 deaths in the community were patients at the Belmont Manor Nursing Rehabilitation Center. Management said Stewart A. Carger said the facility had tested 65 people for viruses and 57 were positive.

“This enemy is malicious and contagious,” Karger said in an email. “Considering the fact that Belmont Manor cares for 100% of the elderly, many have a positive response to Covid-19 because many have frail and complex medical comorbidities. “

Around the Belmont, the town said in a statement that 95 people were estimated to be virus-positive.

“The town is deeply sad and expresses condolences to Belmont Manor’s family and staff,” the statement said.

Globe correspondent Abby Feldman contributed to this report.

Laura Crimaldi [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter Yutaro.