A positive test for COVID-19 in a patient at the Cheney Care Center's skilled nursing facility led to onsite testing of all skilled nursing residents - tests that were all negative. Read the full story on page 3
CHENEY – Cheney Care Center residents appear to be free of any signs of the severe acute respiratory disease COVID-19.
After a positive report of the disease in a resident of the skilled nursing portion of the facility was reported last week, Care Center officials got some help from Multicare, who came by on Saturday, April 4, and tested all skilled nursing residents.
"All of our residents are negative for COVID-19," Executive Director Keith Fauerso said Monday, April 6.
The resident, a woman in her 50s, exhibiting signs of the disease was transported to a local hospital on March 30 where she subsequently tested positive. The Care Center was notified of the result on April 1, and immediately sent a letter to residents and families about the situation.
"At this time, our focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of our residents and our employees," Fauerso wrote in the letter. "Staff are our key partners in keeping themselves and our residents healthy. Staff will continue to use the infection control training and practices we have already implemented."
The woman has been in quarantine at the hospital, and Fauerso said Monday she was recovering.
Residents of the Care Center and Cheney Assisted Living next door are regularly monitored. In a previous article in the Cheney Free Press, Fauerso said they also test staff as they come off and go on shift and any outside vendor, checking temperatures and asking disease-related health questions.
Fauerso said the testing at the skilled nursing center was a collaboration between Multicare, Providence Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente, the state Department of Health and the Spokane Regional Health District. The organizations partnered to provide testing at skilled nursing facilities after more cases of COVID-19 arose in Western Washington outside of the Life Center in Kirkland where the disease first appeared.
According to news reports, 129 residents, staff and visitors at Life Center were infected with the disease resulting in 37 deaths.
"There's been a lot more outbreak on the Westside outside of the Life Center, which hasn't really hit the news," Fauerso said.
Last Saturday, Multicare sent a doctor and two nurses - one with training in infectious diseases - to test Cheney's skilled nursing residents. While there are no plans right now to conduct testing with assisted living facility residents, Fauerso indicated it's a shifting situation with regards to the disease and how it's transmitted.
"Things could change going forward," he added.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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