'No Soap, No Masks': Pa. Dept. Of Health's Inspection Findings For Brighton Rehab And Wellness Center Leave Family Members Concerned
BEAVER, Pa. (KDKA) - The Pa. Department of Health just released their inspection findings for a number of nursing homes across the state, including Brighton Rehab and Wellness Center in Beaver County.
The facility has been a hot spot for the coronavirus with 332 positive resident cases, 108 staff cases and 80 virus-related deaths.
The facility management told KDKA on Tuesday there are no active coronavirus cases in their residents, but family members are still concerned after reading the state's findings.
"People died because of their negligence, they had no plan," Judith Marie said.
Marie said her mother is recovering from the virus inside Brighton and she is shocked but not surprised to hear some of the details in the state's report.
"No soap, no masks. I mean I have a picture of my mother with one of the aides where the woman doesn't have her mask on, it's on the top of her head," Marie said.
That report was released on Monday by the Pa. Department of Health details various situations where inspectors found employees lacked masks, did not social distance, did not properly disinfect items and various bathrooms did not have soap or paper towels.
The report said Brighton failed to maintain infection prevention and control, which placed residents in nine of the eleven nursing units in "immediate jeopardy."
"I think this is something we knew was forthcoming. We knew there were a lot of issues coming out of Brighton Rehab and that's why they had such a large outbreak," said Commissioner Daniel Camp.
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Camp told KDKA this inspection didn't happen until May 1, weeks after the board called on the state to step in.
"Not only does the nursing home need to be held accountable, but the Pa. Department of Health does too because they could have found these issues earlier in the outbreak rather than have every resident they have test positive," Camp said.
According to the inspection results, the facility was given a corrective action plan to have in place by June 8. You can read all the inspection findings here.
KDKA reached out to facility management about the findings and they released the following statement:
"Today, we can share that we currently have no active cases of COVID-19 among our residents. This is a credit to the efforts and expert care of our staff over the past several months. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have closely adhered to the strict guidelines set forth by health officials. Further, we have always held regular training sessions and in-services to ensure staff is competently trained on best practices. In any instance where a staff member may have gone outside of proper protocols, leadership works to immediately correct the staff member to ensure compliance."
"We understood from the onset of this crisis that COVID-19 would be a challenge in our community given how vulnerable our residents are, and we called on health officials and the National Guard to provide additional support as early as mid-March. While this crisis is not yet over, we are proud of the progress we have made to date and will fight tirelessly to keep this virus eradicated from our facility."