SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) — Some of the state’s top health officials testified before state lawmakers Thursday on the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
The joint legislative session looked to get to the bottom of staffing levels at the facility, where more than 75 veterans have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
Legislators not only discussed recent changes to how staffing is managed but also the requirements set to become a superintendent.
“You’re not giving staff certainty on their schedule, and people were having, not knowing what their schedule is going to be,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders.
Sudders fielded questions from legislators on why staff turnover rates were so high at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
Members of a joint legislative committee tasked to investigate the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the facility. On Thursday, they were eager to address the staffing shortages and other problems that caused the pandemic to spiral out of control.
“There was not the internal processes, clinical management, and operations, to withstand a pandemic,” she explained. “There are many nursing homes in Massachusetts that faced the pandemic, including Chelsea, but their internal structures didn’t collapse.”
The lawmakers questioned Sudders as to why a licensed nursing home administrator is preferred, but it’s not a requirement of a potential superintendent. That is a requirement at private facilities at the state.
Sudders said the distinction isn’t rigorous enough when it comes to the actual healthcare experience. She believes even a licensed nursing home administrator couldn’t have reigned the pandemic in, given the home’s operational failings.
“I don’t think one person would have been able to have stopped that,” she noted.
One of the committee members, State Senator John Velis, said the goal is to find solutions.
“We need to transition to the going forward part of this,” Velis said.
Velis added that after speaking with families, his concerns about staffing linked to the home’s ability to facilitate resident visits once again.
“You’ve got all these veteran residents not able to speak to their families, talk to their families in a meaningful way. I would say so I’m concerned about that impact,” he noted.
In-person visits are canceled for the time being at the home.
Acting Superintendent Val Liptak and the state’s Veterans Services Secretary Cheryl Poppe also testified on Thursday.
The legislative committee’s report is due in the spring, roughly one year since the outbreak began.