A consortium of five nursing homes in the Rochester area have released a statement about the threat their facilities face from the coronavirus.
The statement comes from The Alliance for Senior Care, which consists of five not-for-profit skilled nursing facilities that includes Episcopal SeniorLife Communities, Friendly Senior Living, Jewish Senior Life, St. Ann’s Community, and St. John’s.
The Alliance was first formed in May 1997 to address industry issues, generate cost savings, and share best practices.
In its weekend statement, the Alliance said that it recognizes that the elderly have been and will continue to be the most at-risk population.
“This is a pandemic, and without a vaccine, COVID-19 will continue to be a threat,” said Glen Cooper, President & CEO, Friendly Senior Living, one of the members of the Alliance. “The most important thing that nursing homes can do in the face of this threat is to continue fighting our front-line battle. We are doing everything we can to protect, treat, and mitigate the risk for the most vulnerable among us.”
The Alliance says that its members have been and will continue to be transparent with residents, families and staff.
“As an Alliance, it is our belief that these numbers will continue to increase within the next few weeks,” said Dr. Scott Schabel, Medical Director of The Friendly Home. “We know that it’s only a matter of time before the number of confirmed cases, as well as, sadly, the number of deaths, increase — not only at our facilities, but at nursing homes across the region, across the state, and across the nation. This is the devastating and sobering reality of a pandemic. The enemy, COVID-19, is raging on, without mercy.”
The Alliance says its nursing facilities began implementing extra precautionary measures in February, as the coronavirus spread, including additional extensive cleaning and the acquisition of more personal protective equipment.
St. John’s Home in Rochester has seen at least 8 deathsfrom COVID-19 according to data published Friday by the New York state health department. The latest data from the state showed a total of 18 fatalities at nursing facilities in Monroe County. Other individual homes where deaths occurred were not listed. State officials are not releasing names of nursing homes with fewer than five deaths.
The data released Friday also listed 1 death in Livingston County, 6 in Ontario County, 4 in Steuben County and 3 in Wyoming County.
