Letter to the editor: Senior care facilities need emergency funding

Redstone Presbyterian SeniorCare has made great effort to prevent the coronavirus from entering our facility. We are fortunate. Other nursing homes have worked just as hard but do have positive cases. Nursing homes have become the epicenter of the pandemic. Now, more than ever, long-term care providers need Gov. Tom Wolf’s help.

Redstone has installed negative-pressure rooms in our facility, where we isolate new hospital admissions for 14 days and have staff dedicated just to this area. These staff are receiving hazard pay for their service. For now, we have enough personal protective equipment, but given the fact that we do not have the resources to detect asymptomatic carriers, this can all change very quickly. Unfortunately, many care homes don’t have the ability to procure the necessary resources to respond to this pandemic.

Our association, LeadingAge PA, has repeatedly called for Wolf to provide $290 million in emergency funding that would be strictly used by senior care facilities to help defeat the pandemic. This funding would be used to hire more professionals to treat patients and to purchase test kits and PPE. As a trained nurse, I can tell you that these funds are needed now more than ever.

Nursing homes have been underfunded for years by the commonwealth. It’s time to step up and support our medical professionals who are working tirelessly to save lives.

Vicki Loucks

Greensburg

The writer is vice president and chief operating officer of Redstone Presbyterian SeniorCare.