What you don't know and should about nursing home care
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March 18, 2021
Whitney Bryen, Oklahoma Watch
In this file photo are Earl Prigmore, left, and Norm Lancaster, residents of Beadles Nursing Home in Alva. When interviewed last year, both said they would rather take their chances with COVID-19 than be confined to their rooms any longer. They both miss seeing family.
After a year of Covid-19 restrictions, Oklahoma's long-term care facilities are beginning to reopen to visitors. It could still be weeks or months before families are reunited.
Last March, nursing homes, assisted living communities, veteran centers and other long-term care facilities closed their doors to visitors to protect vulnerable residents. Annual inspections were halted to limit the number of people coming and going. Even the state's ombudsmen, resident advocates who investigate and resolve complaints against facilities, were shut out for months.
But outbreaks were imminent.
More than 13,000 residents and workers have contracted Covid-19, according to the state's latest report. At least 1,224 have died.
Following requests from Oklahoma Watch, the state health department began releasing Covid-19 infection and death numbers by facility to the public. But the numbers provided little insight into why outbreaks were hitting some facilities harder than others.
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The trends have led to changes in the state's nursing home visitation policies and a new phase in the vaccination rollout.
For a year, many facilities have been operating in the dark allowing few outsiders in. Among them were state health department staff.
Surveyors inspected more than 650 facilities statewide to ensure that workers were following new infection protocols - including the use of protective equipment, hand hygiene and quarantine guidelines - and recorded violations.
These reports are public. For families, they can provide rare information about how well their loved ones are being cared for during the pandemic. The state health department posts the reports to its website surveys.health.ok.gov.
The site is searchable only by facility, which limits broad searches. The reports are brief, with little detail when facilities are found in compliance. But details abound if violations are recorded.
The site also provides licensing and certification documents, ownership reports, complaint investigations and communication from federal regulators.
Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit organization that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on important public-policy issues facing the state. The organization's website is at http://www.oklahomawatch.org.
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