Persimmon Ridge Rehabilitation Centre in Portland has had 26 residents — they were transferred to Columbus Transitional Care and Rehabilitation — and nine staff members test positive for COVID-19. Facility administrator Melinda Hodgson said the facility has been “diligent” in following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health department guidelines. “I believe they were doing the best they can to mitigate the risk in the facility,” said Heath Butz of Jay County Health Department. (The Commercial Review/Riley Eubanks)
Persimmon Ridge Rehabilitation Centre in Portland has had 26 residents — they were transferred to Columbus Transitional Care and Rehabilitation — and nine staff members test positive for COVID-19. Facility administrator Melinda Hodgson said the facility has been “diligent” in following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health department guidelines. “I believe they were doing the best they can to mitigate the risk in the facility,” said Heath Butz of Jay County Health Department. (The Commercial Review/Riley Eubanks)
Three residents have died from COVID-19 as the result of an outbreak at a Portland rehabilitation center.

Persimmon Ridge Rehabilitation Centre administrator Melinda Hodgson confirmed the deaths in an email Monday. She added that nearly half of the center’s 60 residents and nine staff members have tested positive for the virus.

Twenty-six residents who tested positive were transferred to Columbus Transitional Care and Rehabilitation where they are being treated by clinical specialists, Hodgson said. Residents who have tested negative for COVID-19 are staying put in Portland and will be tested for the virus weekly, she said.

The center, located at 200 N. Park St., has been “diligent” in following state department of health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Hodgson said.

“All staff are screened upon arrival for potential signs/symptoms of illness and are not permitted to proceed to work if ill,” Hodgson said in an email. She declined a request for a phone interview.

Heath Butz, administrator and environmentalist for Jay County Health Department, confirmed that Persimmon Ridge has been following guidelines but that it’s impossible to keep COVID-19 out of a facility while Jay County has an increasing amount of positive cases.

“I believe they were doing the best they can to mitigate the risk in the facility,” he said.

Persimmon Ridge has more cases than what is reported on the ISDH dashboard for COVID cases in long-term care facilities as of this morning. The closest facility with a comparable outbreak is Albany Health Care & Rehabilitation Center, where six residents have died and 29 new cases have been reported this month according to the ISDH dashboard.

The dashboard at coronavirus.in.gov/2393.htm also lists Miller's Merry Manor in Dunkirk as having at least one case among its staff, but administrator Danielle Zimmerman said that is incorrect and nobody at the Dunkirk center is infected as of Monday morning.

A total of six Jay County residents have died from COVID-19, according to the ISDH website, and there have been 287 cumulative confirmed positive cases in the county as of this morning.

Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, said in a press release Monday that the recent uptick in new COVID-19 cases across the country could lead to more cases in long-term care facilities such as Persimmon Ridge.

Nursing homes in the U.S. averaged around 1,500 cumulative deaths a week this summer, but that number has dropped to around 1,000 a week in late September, according to the press release.

“The number one factor in keeping COVID out of our nursing homes, so we can protect our vulnerable population is reducing the level of the virus in the surrounding community,” Parkinson said.

Butz echoed that sentiment.

“Helping to reduce the spread in the community will reduce the risk of it spreading to the facility,” Butz said.
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