Nursing Facility Allowed COVID-19 Positive Staffers To Continue Working

An Oklahoma City Skilled Nursing Facility allowed staff who they knew were positive with COVID-19 to continue working. The facility said there really was no choice. 

Rob Messinger of Edmond said he came to PARCway Accute Recovery Center after his quadruple bypass. But he said after what he saw inside, he would rather take his chances at home than stay there.

“The nurses would come in and check on me, take my vitals without wearing any type of protective, no gloves, no mask,” he said.

And Messinger said some of the nurses and aides were COVID-19 positive

“They said that they highly suspected that they had COVID and they were still at work,” Messinger said. “We had a couple of patients in the same wing that I was in that also had COVID and they weren’t separated.”

At least 17 residents have tested positive and two have died.

“All of our guests here have been separated between COVID positive and COVID negative. Any guests that do end up positive they’re immediately moved to the positive wing. So they’re not co-mingling with each other. They’re not in the therapy gym together. They’re not in the dining room together,” said Jared Carr, an Operational Consultant with PARCway. 

Carr said the wing with residents who have tested positive has its own entrance.

Last Wednesday the facility tested its employees.  About half were positive for COVID-19, but they continued to work; there simply weren’t enough staffers to care for residents otherwise. 

That was only for one day, Carr said.

“Per the CDC we are allowed to have positive staff take care of positive residents, but that did only happen for one day. So, all of the staff in the building are negative.” 

Employees are required to wear masks and gloves on the COVID and non-COVID wings, and employees we saw at the facility were wearing personal protective equipment. 

Still, Messinger said he’s concerned.

“I was worried. I was worried for my own safety,” he said. “I’m worried for the safety of the people that are still up there.”