When the coronavirus outbreak hit one of the largest and most troubled nursing homes in the Northeast, coughing and feverish residents were segregated into a wing known as South 2. The sick quickly filled the beds there, so another wing, West 3, was also turned into a quarantine ward.
Some workers bought rudimentary face shields from a recreation supervisor who purchased a box online for $160. By last week, employees were pleading for help from the government and for donations of personal protective equipment in Facebook posts.After receiving an anonymous tip last Monday, police found 17 bodies in bags in a small holding room at the Andover facility.
But it has been especially devastating at nursing homes like Andover that have long come under criticism for quality of care, inadequate staffing and questionable business practices. The owner and operator of Andover said in statements that they had dealt responsibly with an unprecedented crisis that was harming nursing homes across the region.
“We have found that staff going from facility to facility, and then within facilities, have lent itself to some of the problems that we’re seeing,” Judith M. Persichilli, the state’s health commissioner, said on April 7. Andover’s management has blamed the pileup of bodies on “after-hours holiday weekend issues” over Easter and Passover, as well as the high number of deaths. Workers said the bodies were placed on the floor and on gurneys inside a small air-conditioned room routinely used as a temporary morgue.
One government survey found that 46% of long-term residents at Andover II were receiving antipsychotic medication, versus the state average of 9.5% for nursing homes. It is one of just eight long-term care facilities in New Jersey with less than 200 square feet of space for every resident, according to a Times analysis of nursing home data collected by regulators. Beds are spaced about 4 feet apart, separated by a cloth curtain, workers said.
Altitude in turn leased the properties to a group called Alliance Healthcare, which manages the day-to-day operations of the homes.Earlier this year, health officials in New York recommended that Scheinbaum’s application to take over the operation of an upstate nursing home be rejected, citing “character and competence and other factors.” No further explanation was given.
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