A COVID-19 outbreak at a Port Coquitlam long-term care home has been declared over after taking the lives of at least five residents and infecting at least 51 people at the facility.
After snuffing out an outbreak in June, the virus returned to Nicola Lodge last month, with Fraser Health declaring an outbreak on Dec. 18.
The second outbreak would prove much more difficult to contain than the first. Whereas the coronavirus never made it beyond one case in the spring, over the six weeks of the second outbreak, dozens would fall ill with COVID-19.
By late Friday afternoon, staff, family and residents finally got the reprieve they had been waiting for.
“With the implementation of comprehensive strategies to prevent and respond to COVID-19 in care facilities, there are no longer any COVID-19 cases at this location,” wrote a spokesperson for Fraser Health.
ALLEGATIONS OF MISMANAGEMENT
Nicola Lodge is run by Sienna Living, a company that has come under fire and a multi-million dollar law class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of family members in Ontario after serious allegations of neglect, incompetence and abuse surfaced from whistleblowers and in a damning military report.
In June, Sienna Living launched a company-wide investigation as part of what it called a “sweeping set of initiatives” aimed at protecting residents.
The results of the investigation led to a series of recommendations in August, including improving staffing and labour relations policies; formalizing a complaints process; protecting whistleblowers; and reviewing and reinforcing a zero-tolerance approach to resident abuse.
But within a week of the outbreak, workers started coming forward to the Tri-City News alleging a systematic breakdown in communication, delayed outbreak response and inadequate staffing on the part of management.
At the time, staff inside Nicola Lodge said little had changed and the latest outbreak had revealed cracks in management’s ability to manage a crisis while keeping people safe. That includes a lack of O2 concentrators — portable machines that provide oxygen to patients dealing with a life-threatening situation.
Sienna Living spokesperson Nadia Daniell-Colarossi denied claims of mismanagement, stating Nicola Lodge had all the necessary personal protective equipment and medical supplies, and that it would continue “to prioritize training and education for team members.”
There are now two outbreaks in long-term care facilities across the Tri-Cities: one at The Madison Care Centre in Coquitlam and one at Eagle Ridge Manor in Port Moody.
