Beechwood Homes nursing home in Amherst was recently fined $6,000 for a Covid-19 violation by the state Department of Health.
Beechwood Homes failed to follow its infection control plan when on May 19 it readmitted a hospital patient who had been treated for Covid-19 but had not tested negative for the virus. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had issued an executive order on May 10 barring hospitals from discharging a patient to a nursing home unless the patient tested negative for the virus.
During a May 26 visit, a Health Department inspector also saw a housekeeper at Beechwood Homes enter a resident's room while wearing an N95 mask, but without a protective face shield, gloves or gown. The housekeeper touched her nose in the hallway outside the room and then went back inside it without washing her hands, according to the inspection report.
"Beechwood remains committed to providing the best care possible for our residents. Although we had a cluster of positive cases early in the pandemic, and sadly deaths, Beechwood has not had a new resident COVID case since mid June," Beechwood President and CEO Daniel O'Neill said in an email to The Buffalo News.
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Beechwood Homes, which has had 21 residents die from Covid-19 according to the Health Department, is rated four stars, or above average, by the federal government.
The nursing home has submitted a plan for correcting the infection control violation and has agreed to provide more training to its workers about personal protective equipment, according to Health Department records.
Read the full story about understaffing in nursing homes from News Staff Reporter Lou Michel.
Beechwood Homes is the latest Western New York nursing home fined as a result of Covid-19 focused inspections conducted by the state.
In June, a Buffalo nursing home, Humboldt House, was fined $50,000 by the state for Covid-19 related violations.
That stemmed from an April inspection that found some Covid-19 positive residents rooming with residents who were not infected; residents and workers not social distancing and either not wearing masks or wearing them improperly; and workers tending to Covid-19 positive residents and then caring for uninfected residents without changing into fresh personal protective gear or washing their hands.
The fine against Humboldt House remains the largest Covid-19 related fine against a nursing home by the Health Department, according to a list on the agency's website.
Other nursing homes fined include:
• The Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing was fined $22,000 for multiple deficiencies found in an April inspection, including failures of staff to discard and change into fresh personal protective equipment after going from a Covid-19 positive resident's room to a non-Covid resident's room.
• The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehab Center in Albion was fined $20,000 for multiple deficiencies after inspectors observed on May 9 there was not enough PPE available for staff and some certified nurse assistants and licensed practical nurses failing to wear proper protective gear or wash their hands while serving food and in other circumstances.
• Comprehensive Rehab and Nursing Center of Williamsville was fined $14,000 after inspectors in May found multiple violations, including a lack of social distancing among residents and improper hand washing by some workers.
• Safire Rehabilitation and Nursing of Northtowns, in the Town of Tonawanda, was fined $12,000 for letting groups of residents dine within 6 feet of each other on June 12.
• Cuba Memorial Hospital Inc. SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility) was fined $2,000 for failing to keep residents socially distanced in its dining room on May 27.
