"A publicly funded nursing home is a coronavirus’s dream," says doctor at Virginia nursing home with 42 deaths

Record ID: 1469301

  • Title: "A publicly funded nursing home is a coronavirus’s dream," says doctor at Virginia nursing home with 42 deaths
  • Date: 13th April 2020
  • Summary: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 13, 2020) (REUTERS) SIGN WITH AN ATTACHED RED BALLOON OUTSIDE THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION & HEALTHCARE CENTER EXTERIOR OF THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAMES LEE WRIGHT, THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER, SAYING (NOTE: VIDEO FREEZES AT START OF SOUNDBITE): "Well, I can tell you it was frightening at the beginning. Since we were the first in the community to go through it, we did not have a lot of other people to rely on. We felt alone. We felt that we were barely able to give basic care for our patients at the beginning because of the staffing shortages. We slowly came together as a team and as a community. And I am happy to say, I've been tested twice for coronavirus during this time and I've been negative both times. I put a lot of faith in the CDC recommendations for PPE use. I've been using it faithfully and have remained healthy and safe. I've gone home to my family every night. We certainly, you know - sorry - we don't do as much hugging as we used to. But I'm getting to the point where I'm going to feel like I'm able to do that soon." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAMES LEE WRIGHT, THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER, SAYING: "It's been tough, but, you know, they've been there for them, for me, and it's been a lifesaver, I must say." ENTRANCE OF THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER SIGN READING 'HEROES WORK HERE' OUTSIDE THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAMES LEE WRIGHT, THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER, SAYING: "A publicly funded nursing home is a, is a coronavirus' dream because, as opposed to a privately funded nursing home, we have patients that generally have poorer health to begin with, because they've not had the access to primary care most of their lives. They are in rooms that are smaller and they have a higher percentage of shared rooms. ENTRANCE OF THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAMES LEE WRIGHT, THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER, SAYING: "I think being a publicly funded nursing home with poor resources and small spaces that house our residents really contributes a lot to the spread and the deadliness of this virus." VEHICLES IN PARKING LOT HANDWRITTEN SIGN WITH HEARTS READING: "THANK YOU 4 YOUR SERVICE!" (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAMES LEE WRIGHT, THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER, SAYING: "We were as prepared as we possibly could be, being a publicly funded nursing home in the United States. We have chronic staffing shortages, chronic shortages of of personal protective equipment. We had met prior to the onset of our crisis and prior to the onset of any coronavirus cases in Virginia, to go over our preparedness. And we realized we were not only in need of equipment such as masks, the N95 masks, but that we could no longer get them from our supplier. So at that point our supplier, along with many other nursing home suppliers, were diverting materials to hospitals. And so we were short on gowns and masks at the beginning of the crisis." ROAD OUTSIDE THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER TRANSPORTATION MINI-BUS PARKED OUTSIDE THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. JAMES LEE WRIGHT, THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER, SAYING: "I think if we can do anything, it is to shed the spotlight on the sad state of our publicly funded nursing homes and stop blaming nursing homes for the care and start blaming ourselves. So we can have out of this a national 'come to Jesus' moment where we all look at each other and look at ourselves and ask ourselves, is it right? Are we honoring our elders in the way we we underfund nursing homes? And the answer, of course, is no, it is not." ENTRANCE OF THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER SIGN OUTSIDE THE CANTERBURY REHABILITATION AND HEALTHCARE CENTER
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2020 00:41
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Canterbury Rehabilitation Dr. James Lee Wright nursing home publicly funded
  • Location: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA001C9BRVPJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Forty-two residents of a Virginia nursing home near Richmond have died from the COVID-19 disease pandemic, in one of the worst clusters of the new coronavirus in the United States, and officials expect more deaths to come.
    At least 127 elderly people out of the 163 residents of the Canterbury Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Henrico County have tested positive for the new coronavirus in recent weeks, said its medical director Dr. James Wright. News reports say the latest two people died in the last three days.
    "It's been tough," Wright, 56, said in an interview with Reuters.
    "It was frightening at the beginning. Since we were the first in the community to go through it, we did not have a lot of other people to rely on. We felt alone. We felt that we were barely able to give basic care for our patients at the beginning because of the staffing shortages," he said.
    At least 35 members of Canterbury's staff have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Monday (April 13), but Wright said he did not know how many have fallen ill.
    Wright himself has been working 12 hour shifts, seven days a week at Canterbury since the outbreak began, he said, even changing bedsheets and patients' underwear when staffing was reduced. He has tested negative twice for the coronavirus, but still tries to protect his family by avoiding physical contact.
    "We don't do as much hugging as we used to. But I'm getting to the point where I'm going to feel feel like I'm able to do that soon," he said.
    The virus outbreak exacerbated an existing staffing shortage, Wright said, with some staffers refusing to come to work for fear of getting ill. The situation was made even worse by a severe shortage of personal protective equipment such as medical masks and gowns, he said.
    "We were as prepared as we possibly could be, being a publicly funded nursing home in the United States. We have chronic staffing shortages, chronic shortages of of personal protective equipment," Wright said.
    Of the 97 known coronavirus outbreaks in Virginia, 53 are in long-term care facilities such as Canterbury, state health officials said during a news briefing Monday with Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
    Nationally, more than 23,000 people have died from COVID-19 disease and more than 577,000 U.S. residents have tested positive for the new coronavirus as of Monday afternoon.
    One thing Wright blamed was the underfunding of publicly supported nursing homes, which tend to have few private rooms and residents in living in tighter quarters.
    Wright said he hoped the situation at Canterbury would spur the public to demand more tax dollars be spent on care for the elderly.
    "We can have out of this a national 'come to Jesus' moment where we all look at each other and look at ourselves and ask ourselves, is it right? Are we honoring our elders in the way we we underfund nursing homes? And the answer, of course, is no, it is not," he said.
    (Production: Jane Ross, Julio-Cesar Chavez)
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