Ten residents at a long-term care home outside of Ottawa are dead due to a novel coronavirus outbreak.
Ten residents have died directly from coronavirus-related complications, while two residents have died due to pre-existing conditions, according to Almonte Country Haven in Almonte, Ont.
“We have proudly served the community for 39 years and each death leaves a lasting mark on our residents and our care team,” read a statement from Carolyn Della Foresta, administrator at the long-term care home, issued on Thursday.
Twenty other residents have tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus disease, while four others are awaiting test results.
The outbreak at the long-term care home was first announced by Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit on March 30, when three residents and one staff member were confirmed to have contracted the virus.
On Wednesday, family members of residents living at the home received an email telling them that since March 29, eight people had died at the home from COVID-19-related complications, while two others had died due to pre-existing conditions.
Those numbers were later updated on Thursday by Almonte Country Haven to 10 COVID-19-related deaths and two deaths related to pre-existing conditions.
The local health unit has refused to comment on or confirm the growing number of deaths at the home.
Jan Carter Lea, who says her 82-year-old mother lives at the home, was relieved when she finally received an email from Almonte Country Haven on Wednesday night.
She said that originally, when the outbreak was announced in late March, family members were receiving updates about the situation at the home.
“And then we got nothing. We got no numbers at all. … We didn’t know how many people were sick, and that information just wasn’t coming,” Carter Lea said in a phone interview Thursday.
She said there seemed to be some confusion between the home and the local public health unit about who was supposed to announce the numbers to the public and to the families.
Carter Lea’s mother has dementia and other physical issues that require her to be in long-term care, and Carter Lea said she was not able to get updates for her mother during the period when no information was getting out about the outbreak. She said loved ones started to rely on each other to get updates.
“There is a Facebook page for family members,” Carter Lea said. “Everybody was just trying to share information to see that some people were able to talk to their parents.”
She was grateful the home took the step Wednesday to reach out to family members to let them know what was going on.
“When we finally got the numbers yesterday, it was a huge relief.,” she said. “And yes, the numbers were terrible and really sobering. But knowing is so much easier than wondering, and the knowing has actually reduced the anxiety.”
Carter Lea was surprised to hear that the public health unit did not want to speak about the numbers, saying she felt it’s important for the community to be able to know what’s going on around them during the pandemic.
She stressed that the residence and its staff have been doing excellent work, and the outbreak at the home should not be a poor reflection on Almonte Country Haven’s employees.
“This is a deadly, deadly virus, and there’s no way they could have known that it was coming. They’ve done everything they can to try to stop it.
The home has stated that all residents are currently isolated in their rooms with meals being provided to them. Residents are being screened daily for the virus, with staff being screened daily before they enter and after they leave the home. Additional housekeeping has been implemented, and the residence’s dining room has been converted into a storage unit for personal protective equipment.
Almonte Country Haven also noted it is currently hiring additional staff to deal with the outbreak.
Carter Lea said Almonte Country Haven has promised to keep family members updated about the outbreak from now on through emails.
“We are profoundly grateful for the staff at Almonte, and if there’s any way that the families can support the staff and caring for our loved ones, we would absolutely do anything we could,” Carter Lea said.
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