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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Gracedale Has 2d Highest Number of Covid-19 Deaths in Pa.

Gracedale is the largest nursing home in Pennsylvania. It also has the second highest number of Covid-19 fatalities. Yesterday, the state Department of Health finally released its COVID-19 Long-Term Care Facilities Data for 557 nursing and long term care homes.

The nursing home with the highest number of deaths statewide is Brighton Rehab and Wellness Center, which at one time was county-owned. As of yesterday, 358 residents and 25 employees had tested positive, with 76 deaths.

Gracedale is second, with 205 residents stricken, 44 of them fatally. In addition, 40 workers have contracted the virus.

Analysis:

1) The spreadsheet prepared by the state is undated.

2) The spreadsheet prepared by the state omits deaths at nursing homes if they are under 5. This leads the state to conclude there have been 2,852 deaths at LTCFs when the actual total is 3,145. Thus, the state is under-reporting nursing home deaths.

3) In Northampton County, the state failed to include The Gardens at Easton, Slate Belt Health and Rehab and Weston Rehab. Those facilities are listed as nursing homes by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. This failure leads to even more under-reporting of the severity of Covid-19 in nursing homes.

4) In Lehigh County, there appears to be more omissions, although perhaps the names of some facilities have changed.

Below is the state data for the Lehigh Valley's nursing homes, which appears to me to be flawed:

Lehigh County

CEDARBROOK SENIOR CARE and REHABILITATION
- 115 residents, 41 employees, 20 deaths

FELLOWSHIP MANOR
- 43 residents, under 5 employees, 8 deaths

GOOD SHEPHERD HOME RAKER CENTER
- 10 residents, 8 employees, under 5 deaths

HOLY FAMILY MANOR
- 20 residents, 8 employees, under 5 deaths

LEHIGH CENTER
- 84 residents, 16 employees, 17 deaths

LUTHER CREST NURSING FACILITY
- 10 residents, 0 employees, under 5 deaths

MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES ALLENTOWN
- 47 residents, 8 employees, 6 deaths

MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES BETHLEHEM 2021
- 125 residents, 14 employees, 19 deaths

MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES BETHLEHEM 2029
- 30 residents, 5 employees, under 5 deaths

MOSSER NURSING HOME
- 18 residents, under 5 employees, 0 deaths

WESTMINSTER VILLAGE
- 48 residents, 17 employees, 10 deaths

ABOVE and BEYOND
- under 5 residents, 0 employees, 0 deaths

ABOVE and BEYOND MOUNTAIN VIEW
- 41 residents, 0 employees, 12 deaths

ARDEN COURTS OF ALLENTOWN
- 23 residents, under 5 employees, 9 deaths

AT HOME PALLIATIVE AND HOSPICE FOUNDATION BUILDING 1
- under 5 residents, 0 employees, 0 deaths

BETHLEHEM MANOR
- under 5 residents, under 5 employees, under 5 deaths

COUNTRY MEADOWS OF ALLENTOWN - 8 residents, under 5 employees, under 5 deaths

DEVONHOUSE OF ALLENTOWN - 9 residents, 0 employees, under 5 deaths

HEATHER GLEN SENIOR LIVING - 0 residents, under 5 employees, 0 deaths

LEGEND PERSONAL CARE AND MEMORY CARE OF ALLENTOWN - 5 residents, 0 employees, under 5 deaths

LEHIGH COMMONS - under 5 residents, under 5 employees, 0 deaths

MOUNT TREXLER MANOR - under 5 residents, 5 employees, 0 deaths

SALISBURY BEHAVIORAL HEALTH - under 5 residents, 0 employees, 0 deaths

SOUTH MOUNTAIN MEMORY CARE - under 5 residents, 0 employees, 0 deaths

WESTMINSTER VILLAGE - under 5 residents, 0 employees, 0 deaths

WHITEHALL MANOR - 15 residents, 6 employees, 5 deaths

Northampton County

COUNTRY MEADOWS NURSING CENTER BETHLEHEM - 22 residents, 5 employees, 7 deaths

KIRKLAND VILLAGE - 44 residents, 10 employees, 6 deaths

MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES EASTON - 131 residents, 20 employees, 15 deaths

MORAVIAN HALL SQUARE HLTH AND WELLNESS CTR - under 5 residents, 5 employees, 0 deaths

MORAVIAN VILLAGE OF BETHLEHEM - under 5 residents, 0 employees, 0 deaths

NEW EASTWOOD HEALTHCARE AND REHAB CENTER - 30 residents, 6 employees, 6 deaths

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY HOME GRACEDALE - 205 residents, 40 employees, 44 deaths

OLD ORCHARD HEALTH CARE CENTER - 99 residents, 15 employees, 24 deaths

THE GARDENS FOR MEMORY CARE AT EASTON - 96 residents, 22 employees, 22 deaths

ALEXANDRIA MANOR OF ALLENTOWN BETHLEHEM CAMPUS - 13 residents, under 5 employees, under 5 deaths

LIZAS HOUSE - 0 residents, under 5 employees, 0 deaths

MEADOWS LIVING CENTER AT COUNTRY MEADOWS OF BETHLEHEM - 35 residents, 26 employees, 5 deaths

MORAVIAN KINGS DAUGHTERS AND SONS HOME - 0 residents, under 5 employees, 0 deaths

SAUCON VALLEY MANOR - 9 residents, under 5 employees, under 5 deaths

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

As long as the state is presenting numbers, those numbers need to be discussed in context of total death numbers for the same period of time, when COVID-19 didn’t exist.

To even better understand, make a comparison of deaths for specific morbidity issues. For example, pneumonia. For both periods of comparison, did the usual number of deaths drop? Or, say, due to heart failure?

Anonymous said...

This is going to be a huge scandal when this is all over. They have ruined
the economy for this? There are no pneumonia deaths, regular flu deaths,
just plain old age. Every death now is from Covid 19

Anonymous said...

I try to understand why Governors in various states have made a decision to do this. For many of them it was probably in hope of destroying President Trump. But, that’s failed big time. Others probably think the Federal Government will pay for everything, with enormous amounts of money that can be skimmed off for an unrelated ’Wish List’ of state purchases.

Maybe, it’s that feeling of great power over others. Causing pain on the ‘little people.’ Believing they are immune from harm.

Regardless, no hardworking, productive citizen should validate this with their vote.

Anonymous said...

They are calling every death “presumed covid” this is a lie the numbers are inflated

Anonymous said...

as usual with government--scandal again

Anonymous said...

Not to shoot the messenger, Bernie, but why should these numbers be believed? The Wolf and Levine Hilarious Numbers Show is the funniest thing on TV. If you're still defending these mathematic retards, you're probably a mathematical retard. In the words of Dr. Levine, "Ex-puh-den-shel."

Anonymous said...

the government has another agenda--they want to get trump and change the way we live latest info shows us this--poor kids now the mayor close the pools what dot't they understand kids do not get the virus in numbers that should shut down schools and sports

Anonymous said...

The facts are easy to follow: The democrat Governors that are following the same type of harsh lockdown policies have the largest number of cases, and the largest number of deaths in the country.

Their policies have failed their states, resulted in unnecessary deaths, and ruined the economies in their states.

They all need to be voted out, along with any legislator who has supported their lock-down policies. There is no other issue that matters in the Fall election.

Anonymous said...

Wolf is doing much more damage to Pa. citizen than he is doing good--the facts will prove this

Anonymous said...

My wife is a staff member at Gracedale.

To this date she has yet to be tested by Gracedale for Covid and that is true for most of the staff. Only the ones that show symptoms get a test. This is true about residents too.

The “infected” count numbers put out by Gracedale are so skewed. The need to include the number of residents/staff ACTUALLY TESTED.

They are worried if they test all staff they won’t have any staff to work!

Anonymous said...

Bernie's Girlfriend holding the gun ?.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Every resident and staff member at a nursing home should be tested, regardless whether they show symptoms. It has been demonstrated they are a hot spot and certainly any contact tracer would insist everyone there be tested. This needs to happen.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Everyone there is at the very least a proximate contact.

In addition to testing, I'd set up a facility in conjunction with a local hotel to quarantine county staff who contract Covid-19 or who are identified as contacts, and then would strongly encourage those who need to be quarantined or isolated to go there. Some hotels have been doing this.

Anonymous said...

Some hotels have been doing this.

of course they are, they aren't getting tourists so why not gouge the government for rooms

Bernie O'Hare said...

That's fine. It's infinitely preferable to closing down the entire state economy. Test and trace.

Dad's girl said...

I agree with you, Bernie. My father is in one of Country Meadows Secure Memory Care Units. They tested all residents and staff regardless of symptoms or not. From what I have been told, the residents that are positive are asymptomatic although this may be a challenge to determine since their memory and communication skills are not like the average individual. Negatives and positives have been isolated from each other. Negatives are being retested soon, if not already done. The staff there is absolutely amazing and I trust my fathers life with them.They are like a second family to me and treat my father with love and respect.

Bernie O'Hare said...

That's really excellent. Every nursing home should do this, especially as more tests become available. It is clear that LTCF residents are very high risks and it should make no difference whether they show a symptom.

Anonymous said...

Not Gracedale. They have KNOWN positive residents sharing rooms with KNOWN negative residents! Not just sharing rooms, but air space and bathrooms. This is a fact. As of 11:38 on 5/20, I can give you 3 room/floor/building numbers where this is occurring.

Originally “Tower10” was the designated quarantined location for POSITIVE residents. Not no more....positives are sprinkled around every floor/building. Not sure why.

If someone goes in there a does an Audit Trace on each resident they would see how residents are moved around from floor to floor, building to building recklessly without any kind of plan. Seriously, no joke. It’s like they are purposely cross contaminating.

I just find it amazing how each time the “numbers” come out every few days and it is done with fuzzy math. Eventually they will be exposed.

Bernie, please post a whistleblower contact email or phone number I can call to give more detail too.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The nursing home complaint hotline is 1-800-254-5164.

Anonymous said...

Wolf and his doctor friend are cause of many deaths in the homes and outside the homes.

Karl Hungus said...

Why Did you troll the Ridge St Stunner Don Moore and do you have the balls to show up at her 6/22 trial her new boyfriend Goetz/Marcus Brandt/ Dales Mousadd/Mikek aka Bob Ryan of KDDI America will be there to support her I'm told...

Karl Hungus said...

Cant wait until Peter J Cocktails sorts you out Bob, and MOW Your Lawn!

Anonymous said...

Berksheim county home having national guard test all staff and residents

Anonymous said...

You people are wasting your time. Gracedale is a mess. The administration should have been doing continuous tests on residents and employees all along. Most poor sick residents don't vote. Instead McClure needs his daily fix of PR and will constantly tout his Easton Hospital tests of the public. Yes there are quite a few "soft costs". It is about publicity not safety.

Forget reading about good inside information about Northampton County. Most of those posts end up "going away". If Bernie is not on the McClure payroll he should be. He is better at the job than the county's paid propaganda woman. Old tome readers of this blog tell me they have not seen this much adoration and protection from Bernie since the Stoffa days. McClure should feel honored.

Sadly if county council questions anything the administration does Bernie attacks them and calls them names. This is all about his "administration sources". Fortunately for McClure most of the council people are owned by him and spend their time praising the administration like Bernie. Good luck at re-election time bobbleheads. Remember Brown's bobblehead council?

So forget any solid information about Gracedale or any other county function, especially the election office problems. This blog is now an arm of the McClure Administration. Any who dare question it are mocked or eliminated.

Bernie O'Hare said...

So hopefully you will stop reading. It is quite clear you have a political agenda. I have a good government agenda. So long as McClure is accountable and transparent, we'll get along. Brown was not and that's why I was critical.

I have said that everyone should be tested. IO have said that everyone at Gracedale, both employee and resident, should be tested. But unfortunately, when this virus was in its infancy, both Trump and the CDC placed a very low priority on testing. We ended up behind very quickly. This is on Trump. He eventually got religion, and test kits are finally becoming widely available. So it is time to test everyone in congregate housing, from nursing homes to college dorms to jails.

So far as I know, Council has pretty much been a rubber stamp for McClure. I criticize them for their own errors. I've nailed Zrinski bc she thinks she is a State Rep. I've slammed Vargo-Heffner bc she was downright rude to the Court Administrator. I've slammed McGee and Lott for attempting to screw nonunion workers.

I've been critical of McGee for foisting an unneeded Deputy Clerk on us.

I've gone after Heckman bc he runs on ad nauseum and makes meetings last much longer than they should.

I've gone easy on Peg bc she is on her way out. I've gone esy on the new guys bc they don't act as though they know everything. And though I disagree with Cusick often, I often agree with his positions, even when contrary to McClure.

I've also been critical of McClure bc he does not pay enough.

The posts that end up deleted are those that fail to adhere to my comments policy.

Anonymous said...

"It is quite clear you have a political agenda. I have a good government agenda. So long as McClure is accountable and transparent, we'll get along. Brown was not and that's why I was critical."

It is quite clear you have a political agenda. We certainly disagree on the accountability and transparency. Brown was an idiot while McClure is smart sand a lawyer and that is the problem.

We do agree you will dump on county council if they talk or ask questions as you have indicated. Actually McClure himself and his people tend to drone on and take up half the meeting. However, it is clear you have a pro-administration agenda.

Again it is your blog and many of us in the know respectfully disagree with your assessment and agenda.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Brown was an idiot while McClure is smart sand a lawyer and that is the problem."

So it's a problem when someone is smart and a lawyer? Alrighty then.

Anonymous said...

I think they meant he is shrewdly manipulative, which he is. You knw that is what they meant. Look at how he plays you and you claim to be smart. You blame Trump when it was McClure who had the tests done public when he could have had them done at Gracedale. As the previous poster pointed out tit is pointless to discus McClure with you.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I see. Obviously, you are neither smart nor a lawyer. Since your first criticism of the county executive is incredibly stupid, you changed it to something that sounds more nefarious. Yes, he's shrewd. I'd hope that a county exec is shrewd. That's a sign of intelligence, which incidentally benefits the county. Next, you say he is manipulative. I sure hope so. Right now he is attempting to "manipulate "the state DOH into establishing a regional Covid-19 test center here. The more correct word is "persuasive." Good leaders are always persuasive. They try to rally people around what they want done. Lincoln did this with slavery, ever so slowly. Good leaders will know which way to steer, but will often wait until others agree with them.

Trump is clearly responsible for a terrible early response to this pandemic. He downplayed it at a time when he needed to be taking action. He claimed it had been contained at a time when community spread was already happening. He cut CDC and they botched the early testing. Then he got religion and was fairly effective in ramping up test kits, hospital space and ventilators. But he got idiotic again when he chose to use daily briefings to slam his perceived enemies. So the national response has been horrible. But Trump looks like Washington next to Tom Wolf, whose solution was to shut everything down.

The only leadership we have had has come from some local officials, who have done what they can from their smaller perches. McClure has responded to this crisis quite well. It makes sense to have ramped up testing. It also makes sense to test everyone at Gracedale, the jail and even 911. All of our 24/7 employees should get priority.

I do not know how many test kits are available to the county, but I am sure this will happen as soon as they are. The fact we've had to wait so long is clearly on Donald Trump.

The fact that Wolf has been terrible by no means exonerates Trump.

In Trump's defense, I'd say that his early response is somewhat understandable. Most early responses to a crisis are full of mistakes. That has been our history. Also, this is a problem that has been decades in the making and we are all somewhat at fault for not taking the possibility of a pandemic more seriously.

You've betrayed your political agenda, a point I made at the onset.

I am more interested in good government.

Anonymous said...

So we are over 44 deaths at Gracedale, we had the National Guard for a while that could have helped test all workers and residents to get a handle on this virus, did we? The County used $150,000.0 to test at Easton Hospital for a week or so.....why not Gracedale? If the nursing home was hit hardest, why not use the money where it was needed? If the State funds of about 2 million go away this year for Gracedale, will the County watch it go back to running in a deficit again?

Anonymous said...

See you deleted the excellent retort to you ridiculous post. McClure is no Lincoln. That was funny. He is no leader at all. You got schooled on your own sarcasm and couldn't;'t handle it. You are a hypocrite and he has accomplished nothing but screwing up at Gracedale.

You attack the council people for being a rubber stamp then attack all of them except Cusick who disagrees with McClure for politics points. You are a hypocrite an ant county is well aware of it.

Anno 7:56 was right as was the post they predicted you would delete. Better stick to posting McClure press releases.

Anonymous said...

I can’t agree that Trump created an unreasonable delay in responding. The time line is very clear he acted swiftly. What many fail to realize, regardless who is President, the bureaucracy of government agencies and logistics moves much slower than the private sector. It takes far too much time to get things in motion when someone at the top says “Let’s Go!”

Hundreds, even thousands, of Government underlings have their own ideas how quickly to act. The reality is, most of them can’t even be fired for lack of performance.

It takes time to ramp-up production of testing kits, particularly NEW testing kits to accurately determine a brand new affliction. Then there are myriad packaging and supply chain issues to solve, under hundreds of more government regulations.

Bernie, you keep trying to hang today’s state and local blunders on Trump’s lack of performance. That’s just not correct. But, you’re not alone, some news media continues to run with this misconception.

Anonymous said...

Trump has been a total disaster. No amount of denial is going to change that.

And he will not be forgiven by the voters.

Anonymous said...

10:25 - I can deny all day (using facts) why Trump has not been a disaster in my mind. A differing opinion based on your mind is perfectly OK with me. I also don’t believe all Americans allow politics to cloud their ability to discern what is real. Carry on!

Anonymous said...

And I've seen the polling data.

Carry on yourself.

Anonymous said...

!0:25 He will win in a landslide because the american people se how the democrats rule in a crisis and any time as a matter of fact

Anonymous said...

10:25 trump in a landslide Biden is an idiot and a crook along with his kid--he also attacks women. all true facts