Five Veterans Pass Away at Soldiers’ Home, Four Confirmed COVID-19

The Chelsea Soldiers’ Home continues to take great measures to fight an overall outbreak at its facil­ity on the top of the hill.

This week, officials re­ported that five veterans at the state-run home have passed away, with four of them testing positive for COVID-19. The fifth resi­dent who died was tested, and that test is pending. There was only one death reported last week. That in­formation was current as of Tuesday night.

In total, there are 14 vet­eran residents who have tested positive, while 19 have tested negative. Almost all of the residents have now been tested, and there are 258 residents now waiting for the results of their tests.­

Nine staff members have tested positive as well. Staff testing was in progress and is expected to be done this week as well. Staff that are currently on medical leave are also being screened via drive through testing in the parking lot. Staffing is being managed, said a spokesman, to provide safe care for residents, and the Home has put in place per diem contracts with nurses so they can start immedi­ately.

Meanwhile, the spokes­man reported that all com­munity and shared areas have been closed, and resi­dents in the dorm are being screened as they come in and out of that residence. Visitors are restricted, and have been.

When residents test positive for COVID-19, they are enforcing isola­tion rooms and quarantine zones, and increased use of Personal Protective Equip­ment (PPE). In those cas­es they are also restricting visitors and increasing hy­giene and disinfecting pro­tocols.

All veteran residents who test positive for COVID-19 have been transferred to the Boston VA Health Care System, and if additional veteran residents test positive they will be proactively trans­ferred to be properly quar­antined and cared for.

To help residents com­municate with loved ones during restrictions, the fol­lowing measures have been taken:

•I-pads have been deliv­ered toChelseato support veteran resident communi­cations, with assistance of social workers.

•Families can also re­quest updates on their loved ones by contacting the Home at HYPERLINK “mailto:[email protected]” \t “_blank” [email protected].

•Please note the Sol­diers’ Home can only share medical information about a resident with the autho­rized health care proxy on file.