Seven nursing homes in Buffalo area fined for Covid-19 violations

May 26—Seven nursing homes in the Buffalo area were recently fined by the State Health Department for Covid-19 related violations.

The infection control fines were levied nearly a year after the pandemic began and after it had killed about 15,000 residents in long-term care facilities in New York.

The largest fine, for $12,000, was against Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Williamsville, where 76 residents have tested positive for the virus and 12 died from it through May 9, according to federal data.

Comprehensive Rehabilitation, which had one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks last fall for any nursing home in the country during that time, was cited in October for failing to check workers' temperatures twice if they worked more than 12 hours in a shift.

The state in April 2020 began requiring nursing homes to screen workers for Covid-19 symptoms and take their temperatures at the start of each shift and every 12 hours while they were on duty.

More than five months later, on Oct. 7, 2020, the nursing home's administrator and its top infection prevention nurse "stated they were not aware of the 12-hour screening requirement until today," according to the inspection report.

Workers at the facility told Health Department inspectors at that time that the facility never took their temperatures a second time if their shift lasted more than 12 hours.

The administrator of Comprehensive Rehabilitation did not respond Monday to a request for comment from The Buffalo News.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic, the New York State Department of Health has conducted more than 3,700 onsite focused infection control surveys with at least one visit to every nursing home and adult care facility in New York State," said Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the Health Department.

The other nursing homes fined by the Health Department were:

—Fox Run at Orchard Park was fined $10,000 for failing in January to check four workers' temperatures twice when they worked more than 12 hours and failing to check one worker's temperature at the start of a shift.

—Buffalo Community Healthcare Center was fined $8,000 after several workers were seen in December not wearing required personal protective equipment or following infection control policies.

—Western New York State Veterans Home in Batavia was fined $8,000 for failing in December to check the temperatures of four workers twice when they worked more than 12 hours.

—Greenfield Health and Rehab was fined $4,000 for failing in January to notify relatives of residents within 24 hours after a resident tested positive for Covid-19 or died from the virus in the Lancaster facility.

—Harris Hill Nursing Center was fined $4,000 for violations cited in January and March. Records detailing the violations at the nursing home in Amherst were not available on the Health Department website.

—Ellicott Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation was fined $2,000 for allowing a nurse to work on multiple dates in January and February at the Buffalo nursing home without ensuring the nurse had been tested for Covid-19.

Fox Run

CEO Bill Wlodarczyk said the nursing home in Orchard Park underwent two infection control surveys from the state in 2020 without any violations. But he said that when the nursing home shifted employees' work schedules on Nov. 1 from five days a week to three 12-hour shifts per week it unexpectedly ran into trouble. Because the workers took lunch breaks, their workday was longer than 12 hours, and the nursing home was required to take their temperatures twice, at the start of their shift and again right shortly before they left work.

"It's frustrating and difficult. We're still testing all of our staff twice a week. It's a bit of a burden. But in some ways it has prevented spread. But sometimes the regulations become a burden at times," he said.

He said the nursing home disputes the Health Department's allegation that one worker did not have her temperature checked at the start of her shift.

Buffalo Community Health Care Center

Among the violations cited by the state was a housekeeper seen cleaning within 6 feet of a resident who tested positive for Covid-19 and then entering a non-Covid unit without taking off her gown or gloves. A certified nurses aid was seen exiting the room of resident with Covid without wearing a gown or eye protection, going into supply closet for fresh linens without doffing her gloves or washing hands.

Workers were seen not wearing N95 masks although the masks were available.

A spokesman for Buffalo Community did not respond to a request for comment Monday from The News.

WNY State Veterans Home

The facility in Batavia is operated by the state Health Department to provide long-term care to veterans and their dependents.

Workers there said they are not screened twice when they work a double shift. Nursing officials told state inspectors that supervisors are supposed to ensure workers have their temperatures taken a second time when they work double shifts, according to Health Department records.

An administrator at the facility referred a News reporter seeking comment to the Health Department. Hammond, the Health Department spokesman, said the nursing home developed and implemented a plan of correction.

Greenfield Health

Christopher Koenig, the CEO at Niagara Lutheran, which owns Greenfield Health, said the staff there was promptly notifying a resident's next of kin if they died from Covid-19. But the Health Department wanted the nursing home to notify the families of all residents, not just the family of the deceased.

"We had to send robocall to all residents," he said.

Ellicott Center

Jeffrey Jacomowitz, a spokesman for the company that owns Ellicott Center, said that Ellicott Center has paid the fine.

"An agency nurse who was getting tested via the agency didn't provide paperwork, a short-term lapse of judgment that was immediately rectified," he said.

The facility had hired a full-time person to perform Covid-19 tests on workers and has arranged an automated testing reminder for its staff, he said.

___

(c)2021 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.