Nursing homes throughout Western New York are beginning to vaccinate residents and workers against Covid-19, which has has killed more than 6,000 residents of nursing homes across the state.
Pharmacists from Walgreens gave shots to 150 residents who consented at Northgate Health Care Facility in Wheatfield and to about 100 workers on Tuesday, said Dawn Harsch, a spokeswoman for the McGuire Group chain of nursing homes.
"So far there has been more than a 90% acceptance rate for residents," Harsch said.
The Wheatfield facility was among the first to give the shots in the region this week as nursing homes roll out the vaccine over time. Six other McGuire Group nursing homes will administer vaccinations in future weeks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directed that consenting nursing home residents and workers be among the first to receive the vaccinations. But the CDC has recommended nursing homes vaccinate their workers in stages over a number of weeks so that they won't be short of workers if there are bad reactions.
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The federal program to vaccinate residents and staff at 618 nursing homes in New York began Monday and is to be completed within six weeks.
Meanwhile, seven Erie County nursing homes last week had Covid-19 outbreaks with more than 5% of their residents testing positive for the virus, according to the Erie County Health Department.
Other Buffalo area nursing homes are making vaccination plans:
• Residents were vaccinated Monday at Fiddlers Green Manor in Springville. The 79-bed nursing home has not had a resident test positive in more than 180 days, the facility states on its website.
• Two of the eight Elderwood nursing homes in the Buffalo region, in Hamburg and in Lockport, will vaccinate consenting residents and staff this week, said Charles Hayes, a spokesman for the chain.
"All consenting residents and front-line staff will receive the vaccine," he said. Other Elderwood nursing homes will arrange for vaccinations in the coming weeks, he said.
• One of the biggest nursing homes in the region, Absolut Care of Aurora Park, in East Aurora, will not administer its vaccinations until Jan. 7, said Harsch, who is also a spokeswoman for the Absolut facility. Through Dec. 6, the 320-bed facility had 205 residents test positive for Covid-19 and 64 die from the virus, according to federal statistics. It is the second-largest nursing home in Western New York.
• Pharmacists injected residents and workers Monday at an Absolut chain nursing home in Allegany that has also had a recent outbreak of Covid-19 infections and deaths. Vaccinations were done Tuesday at an Absolut nursing home in Westfield.
• Two other Absolut facilities, Orchard Brooke Assisted Living in Orchard Park and Absolut Care of Gasport, will be scheduled for vaccinations in 2021.
• Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing on Delaware Avenue expects to receive 130 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and will administer the shots Dec. 28 to consenting front-line workers and residents, said Jeffrey Jacomowitz, director of communications for Centers Health Care, which operates the facility. Vaccination plans at Ellicott Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, another Centers Health Care facility in Buffalo, were still being formulated.
• At GreenField Health and Rehabilitation nursing home in Lancaster, vaccinations will begin Dec. 30, said Christopher Koenig, chief executive officer of Niagara Lutheran Health System, which operates the GreenFields Continuing Care Community. Vaccinations at the assisted living housing on the GreenField campus will happen at a later date.
• Catholic Health, which was named by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lead the planning for the next phase of the vaccine distribution in the region, has not begun vaccinating residents or workers at its nursing homes in the Buffalo area, said JoAnn Cavanaugh, a spokeswoman there. It operates a Covid-19-only nursing home in Orchard Park, as well as the Father Baker Manor, McAuley Residence and St. Catherine Laboure nursing homes.
Elderwood opens Covid-19-only facility
The Elderwood chain is converting its 92-bed Elderwood at Amherst nursing home in Erie County into a facility to house only residents who have tested positive for Covid-19.
That enables the chain to isolate and care for residents with the virus and mitigate the spread of it at other Elderwood facilities in Western New York.
Current Elderwood at Amherst residents who have not tested positive for Covid-19 will be transferred to nearby Elderwood facilities.
The seven nursing homes in Erie County with Covid-19 outbreaks last week included five Elderwood nursing homes, according to the county Health Department.
They were: Elderwood at Cheektowaga, 33 residents tested positive, or 19%; Elderwood at Hamburg, 22 residents, 13%; Elderwood at Lancaster, 13 residents, 13%; Elderwood at Amherst, 8 residents, or 9%; and Elderwood at Grand Island, 5 residents, 6%.
“We have a great team working on the transfer process and will make the move seamless and safe for our residents,” said Angela Hauser, administrator at Elderwood at Amherst.
Elderwood at Amherst will be the third nursing home for Covid-19 patients in Erie County, joining the McGuire Group's Harris Hill Nursing Facility in Lancaster and Catholic Health's St. Joseph Post-Acute Care Center in Orchard Park.
Between March and July this year, Elderwood at Amherst cared for more than 100 patients in a special 22-bed unit designated for Covid-19 patients. The unit halted its Covid-19-only status and resumed serving rehab patients as the first wave of the virus waned in late July.
“With the healthcare workforce already stretched, a designated Covid-only care center enables us to deploy clinical and support personnel more efficiently,” said Jeffrey Rubin, the co-CEO for Elderwood.
