State deploys emergency health care centers to long-term care facilities

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon’s interagency facility support team, led by the Department of Human Services and Oregon Health Authority, has begun deploying two designated COVID-19 emergency health care centers to long-term care facilities, officials said Tuesday.

The centers are intended to:

• Support long-term care facilities in crisis with rising infections;
• Care for residents of facilities with only a few cases of the virus to reduce the chance that others could be exposed; and,
• Provide hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a place to recover before returning to the long-term care facility where they live.

The state has contracted with Pacific Health and Rehabilitation to open an emergency health care center at its 50-bed nursing facility in Tigard, which will be equipped to start accepting patients on Wednesday. Laurelhurst Village Rehab in Portland, which has 47 beds, was the first emergency health care center to open.

The additional capacity from the designated centers will be a significant step toward helping to fulfill one of the requirements outlined in Governor Kate Brown’s framework for reopening Oregon, which is that residents of long-term care facilities be protected from COVID-19 infection.

“These centers will provide crucial support,” said Mike McCormick, interim director of the DHS Office of Aging and People with Disabilities. “Making dedicated care centers available reduces the chance that more residents could be exposed.”

A total of 27 nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities currently report to DHS that at least one resident or staff member has COVID-19. That represents about 4 percent of all larger facilities statewide. Seven adult foster homes, or less than 1 percent statewide, currently report at least one confirmed case.

The state’s interagency facility support team is working closely with Healthcare at Foster Creek. DHS is focused on supporting the facility and has taken additional regulatory action over the weekend to address alleged deficiencies and assist in transferring residents to mitigate against further spread of COVID-19 at the facility.

Resources:

For a list of state-licensed long-term care facilities reporting COVID-19 cases or tests pending on suspected cases visit: https://www.oregon.gov/DHS/COVID-19/Pages/LTC-Facilities.aspx.

For an update on COVID-19 cases at long-term care facilities visit:https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19