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    Ambassador Letter (1) (2343)

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    Madeline Ciak
    The union president writes to notify the doctors of serious issues at the Ambassador nursing home, including failures to inform staff of COVID-19 cases, provide adequate PPE, enforce quarantine and symptom monitoring procedures, and implement policies to prevent virus spread, putting residents and employees at risk. At least 7 cases have been confirmed with more likely spreading undetected due to these deficiencies. Immediate testing and supplies are requested to address the dangerous situation.

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    Ambassador Letter (1) (2343)

    Uploaded by

    Madeline Ciak
    113 views2 pages
    The union president writes to notify the doctors of serious issues at the Ambassador nursing home, including failures to inform staff of COVID-19 cases, provide adequate PPE, enforce quarantine and symptom monitoring procedures, and implement policies to prevent virus spread, putting residents and employees at risk. At least 7 cases have been confirmed with more likely spreading undetected due to these deficiencies. Immediate testing and supplies are requested to address the dangerous situation.

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    Ambassador Letter (1)[2343]

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    Ambassador Letter (1)[2343]

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    The union president writes to notify the doctors of serious issues at the Ambassador nursing home, including failures to inform staff of COVID-19 cases, provide adequate PPE, enforce quarantine and symptom monitoring procedures, and implement policies to prevent virus spread, putting residents and employees at risk. At least 7 cases have been confirmed with more likely spreading undetected due to these deficiencies. Immediate testing and supplies are requested to address the dangerous situation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    113 views2 pages

    Ambassador Letter (1) (2343)

    Uploaded by

    Madeline Ciak
    The union president writes to notify the doctors of serious issues at the Ambassador nursing home, including failures to inform staff of COVID-19 cases, provide adequate PPE, enforce quarantine and symptom monitoring procedures, and implement policies to prevent virus spread, putting residents and employees at risk. At least 7 cases have been confirmed with more likely spreading undetected due to these deficiencies. Immediate testing and supplies are requested to address the dangerous situation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    of 2

    Dr. Najibah Rehman Dr.

    Teena Chorpa
    Medical Director Corporate Medical Director, Epidemiology
    City of Detroit Detroit Medical Center

    Re: Ambassador, A Villa Center. 8045 East Jefferson, in Detroit Michigan

    Dear distinguished doctors:

    I am the President of the Service Employees International Union, Healthcare


    Michigan (SEIU HCMI), and our Union represents nursing home employees. Enclose
    please find a stack of complaints being submitted by the Employees at the nursing
    home named Ambassador Home, a Villa Center (Ambassador). The horrific
    shortcomings of the nursing home management are causing the COVID-19 virus to
    begin to spread like wildfire there. The Home is violating the Governor’s Executive
    Orders, the Center for Disease Control Guidelines, and otherwise endangering the
    health and safety of the workers and residents at the Home. We are asking that
    everyone in this Home be tested as quickly as possible, and that personal protective
    equipment be supplied to the home, immediately.

    The Ambassador Home has approximately 160 beds, and it is our


    understanding that it is near capacity. There are approximately 50 Certified Nurses
    Assistants in the Home, and probably 150-200 Employees overall.

    At this point, we have been told of at least two (2) COVID-19 positive test
    results amongst the residents, and five (5) positive test results amongst the
    staff. Management of the Home has failed to inform the staff of these results. The
    information is learned second hand, and at times with confirmation from the family
    member of the individual testing positive. A major problem is that the Home is failing
    to communicate to the Employees in the Home of the existence of the positive tests,
    or persons under investigation of having the virus.

    Home is currently required to comply with the Michigan Governor’s Executive


    Order 2020-21. Paragraph 5.c of that Order requires that businesses which remain
    open for in-person operations conduct themselves by listing six specific
    paragraphs. They include

    “4. Increasing standards of facility cleaning and disinfection to limit worker and
    patron exposure to COVID-19, as well as adopting protocols to clean and
    disinfect in the event of a positive COVID-19 case in the workplace”,
    “5. Adopting policies to prevent workers from entering the premises if they
    display respiratory symptoms or have had contact with a person who is known
    or suspected to have the COVID-19.
    “6. Any other social distancing practices and mitigation measures
    recommended by the Center for Disease Control.”

    Thus, the Governor’s Order requires compliance with the CDC guidelines as well.

    The Governor’s most recent Executive Order, 2020-36, addresses when


    workers must quarantine themselves at home. If any worker has the symptom of
    either an “atypical cough”, “atypical shortness of breath” or a fever, they mist
    quarantine themselves, until:

    “a. three days have passed since their symptoms have resolved, and
    b. seven days have passed since their symptoms first appeared or since they
    were swabbed for the test that yielded the positive result.”

    (2020-36, par 2).

    Finally, the Home has failed to educate and train the staff on emergency
    Ambassador is violating these Orders in a number of ways. The Home has refused to share
    information about the positive test results or people who are under investigation. This violates the
    attached CDC Guideline “Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients with
    Suspected or Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Healthcare Settings” (“Healthcare
    Guideline”). Paragraph 11 states that the Home must “[c]ommunicate information about known or
    suspected COVID-19 patients to appropriate personnel before transferring them to other departments in
    the facility (e.g., radiology) and to other healthcare facilities.”

    Ambassador has been attempting to force CNAs to return to work, even while they are
    experiencing symptoms, simply because they first had the onset of their symptoms seven days ago. One
    Employee forced to work today was still suffering from a shortness of breath, unable to taste or smell, still
    has somewhat of a cough and a temperature of 99.5 degrees. However, the new order clearly requires
    that the Employees be symptom free for three days, regardless of when the symptoms first were
    established. This dangerous misinterpretation of the Order will further the spread of the virus.

    Even more, the Home has failed to adequately provide Personal Protective Equipment. CNAs
    are not given gowns or eyewear at all, even when having to bathe or reposition the residents, or brush
    their teeth, clean them after bathroom use, comb their hair, etc. Further, the CNAs have been
    given ONE N95 respirator and ONE hospital mask, to be used throughout the duration of the viral
    outbreak. Thus, whatever contaminants splash on to these masks on day one are placed back on to the
    CNAs face on day two, and thereafter. This all violates the Healthcare Guideline (for instance,
    “[d]isposable respirators and facemasks should be removed and discarded after exiting the patient’s room
    or care area and closing the door.”) Nor is there alcohol-based hand sanitizer in each resident’s
    room. See also, “Preparing for COVID-19: Long-term Care Facilities, Nursing Homes”. (“Nursing Home
    Guidelines”)

    Significantly, the Home is failing to perform adequate daily checks on the health of the
    residents. In the Nursing Home Guidelines, the Home should be “[a]ctively monitor[ing] all residents upon
    admission and at least daily for fever and respiratory symptoms (shortness of breath, new of change in
    cough, sore throat).” From what we understand and see, the Home is not performing these critical daily
    checks on the residents, but is merely checking the temperature and sometimes the blood pressure of the
    residents. Such failure is likely causing the virus to spread undetected. See also Healthcare Guidelines,
    paragraph 1.

    Finally, the Home has failed to educate and train the staff on emergency procedures to address
    the COVID virus. In fact, they have failed to implement sick leave policies which encourage Employees
    to quarantine if there is a need.

    People are literally dying at this nursing home. We are asking that you do what you can to step
    in and save lives.

    Sincerely,

    Andrea Acevedo, President


    SEIU HCMI

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