We are saddened to report that two of our Veterans died last night due to complications from COVID-19. One Veteran was a guest from the Chelsea Soldiers’ Home.
Both Veterans’ families were anticipating their loss and spoke with their loved ones via telehealth earlier in the day. The families expressed gratitude when our provider made the calls. As always, Bedford VAMC does everything it can to ensure no Veteran dies alone, even during a pandemic. Both cases were previously reported as positive in an earlier case count.
Two other CHS Veterans successfully exited quarantine yesterday. They were medically cleared to return to CHS on a dedicated ward, where their health will be monitored before returning to their respective wards.
We understand the families want a higher level of communication from Bedford VAMC and had already scheduled two conference calls held yesterday with the health care proxies and family members of the Community Living Center residents. During the calls, we were pleased to announce the establishment of both an email and telephone hotline for the CLC families, made possible by the support of our incredible Social Work staff.
We are also scheduling regular updates for families and will provide the schedule to the Hotline team. The schedule will be published in the new weekly newsletter, the first of which is scheduled to mail out Monday afternoon.
Families can call the CLC Families’ Hotline at 781-687-2000, extension 6060, to speak to a Social Worker from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Messages left on the Hotline voicemail outside these hours will be routinely checked and responded to promptly. Families can also request updates via email at [email protected].
Please note Bedford VAMC can only share medical information about a resident with the authorized health care proxy on file. If a family member requests an update and is not the health care proxy, the name of the health care proxy will be shared, and it will be suggested that the health care proxy should call and request the update.
Reporting VA Statistics
VA has rolled out a new reporting website for COVID data. The data for Bedford VAMC on the site does not include outpatient Veterans as the state includes them in their reporting based on their legal residence. The data does include inpatient Veterans with residence at Bedford VA and any employees assigned. Our Chelsea Soldiers’ Home Veterans are reported by Chelsea.
We will continue to provide you with data on all inpatients in our weekly report as able. The new website can be viewed at https://www.accesstocare.va.gov/Healthcare/COVID19NationalSummary. Our cumulative COVID-19 positive data as of 7:25 a.m., April 17, 2020, is 47 Veterans and 38 employees.
Bedford VAMC’s Incident Command Center continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including regular coordinating calls within the VA Health Care System, daily monitoring of PPE supply, and continuously reviewing and implementing infection control policy.
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