Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights in west Salem. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter).
UPDATE: This story has been updated with comment from Prestige Care.
A west Salem long-term care facility reported 41 cases of people infected with the coronavirus and four deaths in the latest indication that senior care facilities remain especially vulnerable to COVID-19.
Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights, an assisted living and memory care facility on Northwest Orchard Heights Road, reported to state authorities that 41 residents or staff tested positive and four died, according to a state report released May 12.
The center accounts for nearly half of Polk County’s 89 cases and all but two of the area’s deaths. Polk County is seeking state permission to drop restrictions to reopen businesses by this Friday.
Prestige Care responded with a statement that on April 30, the facility was notified that a resident tested positive for COVID-19 while receiving care at Salem Hospital.
“We took immediate action to successfully secure broad COVID-19 testing for all residents at our community on May 2,” reads the statement.
Since then, Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights continues to test all community members.
As of May 13, 32 residents and 17 staff members of Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights have tested positive for the virus.
“We continue to work closely with the Polk County Public Health Department and OHA to respond to this situation and continually reinforce our rigorous preventive measures, including caring for affected residents in isolation and implementing home quarantine measures for staff members,” reads the statement. “We also continue to track all resident and staff interactions and screen for additional signs of COVID-19.”
Prestige Care said it’s “doing everything within our power to minimize the risk of exposure to others,” following CDC guidelines and implementing heightened sanitation procedures and suspending group activities in the center.
The west Salem center now has the third highest number of cases among senior facilities in the state, behind Healthcare at Foster Creek and Laurelhurst Village, both in Multnomah County.
The state data indicates the outbreak came on quickly.
The first confirmed infection with the respiratory disease was reported on April 30 in a resident who was hospitalized, said Elisa Williams, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services’ aging and long-term care division.
Williams said Polk County’s public health department began testing residents and staff still at the center and reported more cases to the state on May 4.
According to the Oregon Department of Human Services records, Orchard Heights is licensed for 67 beds. The company, headquartered in Vancouver, also operates Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights Memory Care at the same address with 18 licensed beds.
Prestige was founded in 1985 and operates 90 assisted living, nursing home or memory care facilities in nine western states.
Department records show that Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights has had 15 violations of abuse or neglect since 2014. In 2019 the facility was cited for failing to protect one resident from another. In 2018, it was cited for failing to provide proper medical care and protecting a resident from falls.
Kristty Polanco, Polk County public health administrator, said county health workers provided the facility with test kits and were in daily communication with administrators about protective equipment needs.
“In our daily communication we are making sure that they have the resources they need to continue disease control protocols in place as recommended by OHA,” she said in an email.
Polanco didn’t respond to a question about the source of the outbreak.
On April 28, Prestige posted to its website measures it was imposing to respond to COVID-19, including restricting visitor access, requiring visitors to go through a screening and hygiene procedure, requiring staff to wear surgical face masks at all times and tracking all resident, patient and staff contacts.
On May 4, the state by order imposed more strict rules designed to limit the spread of disease, including not admitting new residents, notifying families of the outbreak, ending group meals and activities, moving residents to private rooms when possible and immediately reporting any new confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.
Such restrictions are standard for any facility regulated by the state with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Polk County’s spike comes on the heels of a south Salem nursing facility reporting a tripling of cases last week.
The state last week reported that Salem Transitional Care had 26 residents or staff testing positive and three deaths. Those numbers were unchanged in the latest report. Company executives said expanded testing led to the discovery of the cases.
Seven other long-term care facilities in Marion County have had three or more cases or one or more deaths, according to state data released Tuesday.
The Oaks at Sherwood Park has 14 cases, Marquis Marian Estates has 16, Four Seasons Memory Care has four, Jason Lee Manor Apartments has two, Avamere Court at Keizer has three, Country Meadows Village has six and Turner Residential Care had one.
This article was updated on May 13 to add more information on the timeline of cases.
