State Officials Disclose Number Of Coronavirus Cases In Okla. Long-Term Care Centers, Nursing Homes

Nine out of 550 licensed long-term care or nursing home facilities in Oklahoma have at least one positive case of COVID-19, state officials told News 9.

Three are in Oklahoma City, three are in Norman, one is in Broken Arrow, one is in McAlester, one is in Skiatook and one is in Tulsa. 

The hardest hit facility is the Grace Living Center in Norman. Thirty-six cases have been reported with 33 being residents and three being staff. 

So far, four deaths were reported from the Grace Living Center in Norman. 

Two facilities have cases involving staff. 

While the state confirmed one case at the Brookhaven facility, Brookhaven Skilled Nursing told News 9 five residents tested positive for the virus Friday morning.

"We are working closely with nursing homes to ensure that every precaution is being taken to ensure spread of COVID is mitigated and those residents that test positive are isolated as their status is confirmed," said Shelley Zumwalt from the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. "If a staff member in a facility becomes symptomatic they are quickly removed from contact with residents and staff.  We are in contact with the facilities to ensure they have adequate PPE and other supplies to follow CDC guidelines and ensure the residents are getting the highest level of care."

A family of a Brookhaven Extensive Care resident said they were blindsided when they found out the facility had five positive cases.

Cheryl Flowers said her mother Trudy, 68, has received excellent care at Brookhaven, but neither knew about the COVID-19 cases at the facility, until they heard News 9 report the cases this morning.

"I called my mom this morning, and I said do you know that Brookhaven has five cases, and she said, ‘I do not," said Flowers.

Trudy has compromised lungs and immune system, and her age also puts her at risk.

Brookhaven officials report they are taking precautions, isolating their patients and so far symptoms have not been severe enough for residents to be hospitalized.

"She said that everyone who comes into her room is suited up and they take off all of the PPE after they leave her room," Flowers said, " They are serving food and drinks in styrofoam, and plastic utensils. "

News 9 reached out to the Norman facilities identified by the department of health today.

Here are their various responses, along with advocates for nursing home and skilled facilities:

Care Providers Oklahoma:

Today the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) released that 10 long term care facilities have 45 residents and 6 staff members that have tested positive for COVID-19. OSDH also lists four resident deaths.
 
Care Providers Oklahoma, the association representing Oklahoma’s skilled nursing facilities, said the numbers reflect the urgent need for action and support on the part of the state.
 
“When it comes to COVID-19, we serve the most vulnerable population at the highest risk for serious illness or death in the state,” said Care Providers Oklahoma President and CEO Steven Buck. “The fact that these numbers are not significantly higher is remarkable and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our skilled nursing staff, especially given the well-documented lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and tests. Unfortunately, just as we have seen across the state and the country, we expect these numbers to rise and for things to get worse before they get better.
 
“To help contain this virus and save as many lives as possible, we need more help. That help needs to come in the form of more PPE. It needs to come in the form of more tests, especially testing of residents that are coming to us from hospitals. When someone is hospitalized and treated for COVID, we need a place to move them to a facility where they can be quarantined and treated, not live in one of our facilities among a healthy but very vulnerable population. Finally, we need emergency financial assistance from the state to be able to continue shouldering the costs of the additional gear and staffing needs this crisis has necessitated.” said Buck.
 
Care Providers Oklahoma released a detailed statement Thursday outlining the ongoing needs of skilled nursing facilities, available here.

From Grace Skilled Nursing & Therapy:

As indicated by the Facility in its statement of March 30^th, over the previous weekend, the facility medical director began utilizing IMMY labs, a private lab in Norman, to facilitate aggressive testing of patients in the facility.  The facility’s voluntary decision to implement exhaustive testing was one of the many ways in which it is attempting to fight the spread of COVID 19 within the facility and best serve its residents.

As a result of that testing, the Facility was able to confirm as positive many individuals who were already presumed positive and many others who may not have otherwise been tested. All results were shared with the individuals involved and the appropriate authorities including the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The Facility also shared with the media the fact that additional aggressive testing had taken place and the fact that positive cases were confirmed. However, out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved, and more specifically at the request of many of our families, specific numbers were not released. It is our understanding that the Oklahoma State Department of Health has now chosen to release numbers in response to a Freedom of Information Act request served by the media. The facility’s first obligation, however, remains with the residents and families that it serves; we will therefore continue to honor our commitment to them to provide relevant information to the public and specific information to state agencies but will not independently release specific numbers or comment upon individual cases.    

We greatly appreciate the support and prayers we have received from the community and continue to ask for their thoughts and prayers.  We have lost valued members of our home and that loss cannot be measured. However, we will continue to work daily to protect our residents and hope the medical community can begin to develop more and better ways to address the effects of this pandemic.  We will also continue to work and pray for a favorable outcome for each person impacted and ask for the public’s prayers and support toward that end as well. Finally, we want to again say thank you to our staff, who are working tirelessly on the front line every day to care for the most vulnerable among us.

Medical Park West:

To the families of our residents, our staff, & the OKC community: The recent story released by our state Department of Health was inadvertently inaccurate. Neither Accel at Crystal Park nor Medical Park West have had residents who have tested COVID-positive to date. This information will be updated daily, & you will see that our facility is no longer on their list of post-acute facilities with positive COVID-19 cases.  Rest assured that we will be the first to alert you of any changes in our status. 

***************

Nine out of 550 licensed long-term care or nursing home facilities in Oklahoma have at least one positive case of COVID-19, state officials told News 9.

Three are in Oklahoma City, three are in Norman, one is in Broken Arrow, one is in McAlester, one is in Skiatook and one is in Tulsa. 

The hardest hit facility is the Grace Living Center in Norman. Thirty-six cases have been reported with 33 being residents and three being staff. 

So far, four deaths were reported from the Grace Living Center in Norman. 

Two facilities have cases involving staff. 

While the state confirmed one case at the Brookhaven facility, the Brookhaven Skilled Nursing told News 9 five residents tested positive for the virus Friday morning.

"We are working closely with nursing homes to ensure that every precaution is being  taken to ensure spread of COVID is mitigated and those residents that test positive are isolated as their status is confirmed," said Shelley Zumwalt from the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. "If a staff member in a facility becomes symptomatic they are quickly removed from contact with residents and staff.  We are in contact with the facilities to ensure they have adequate PPE and other supplies to follow CDC guidelines and ensure the residents are getting the highest level of care."