State says care center failed to prevent virus spread
The Healthcare at Foster Creek nursing home in southeast Portland. (KOIN photo)
(AP) — Workers at a Portland nursing home that has reported 14 coronavirus deaths failed to wash their hands, didn’t use protective masks properly and weren’t trained on how to control the spread of infection, the state said Thursday.
Healthcare at Foster Creek has become the site of the largest known cluster of coronavirus cases and deaths in Oregon, with 50 confirmed cases among residents and staff, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
The Department of Human Services began a three-day inspection of the nursing home last week – the same day The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that 10 Foster Creek residents had died and about two weeks after the facility first reported coronavirus cases.
The nursing home “failed to ensure appropriate measures are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” according to the inspection findings. “This failure presents an immediate risk to the health and safety of all residents.”
Many of the 22 problems state officials witnessed at Foster Creek violated basic principles of hygiene.
On Wednesday, the Department of Human Services ordered Foster Creek to train its staff, hire enough people and report its coronavirus and staffing numbers back to the agency every day.
“We do not want to see one more fatality,” DHS Director Fariborz Pakseresht said at at Thursday afternoon press conference. “Though we don’t really control the future.”