Peter Schorsch
Freedom Square is preparing to welcome back residents who were sent to the hospital for suspected COVID-19 infections.
The new coronavirus struck Seminole Pavilion Nursing Center at Freedom Square earlier this month, sending dozens of residents to the hospital.
The nearly two weeks since have seen a steady flow of residents to area hospitals. As of Thursday, 54 residents and 33 employees had tested positive for COVID-19. Seven residents had died.
Some residents who were transferred due to possible exposure ended up not testing positive, however.
“After the first positive case was found on the campus, in partnership with the appropriate health authorities, and out of an abundance of caution, we made the difficult decision to transfer residents and patients out of Seminole Pavilion, in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus,” said Mary Mackey, Vice President of Operations at Freedom Square.
“Transferring the residents and patients was a difficult decision to make, but it was the right one to keep residents and employees safe.”
Freedom Square told Florida Politics it consulted with its residents, their families and health authorities on allowing the non-infected residents to return home.
All residents who are being brought back to the facility have received double negative tests for COVID-19. The facility plans to reintroduce them gradually.
“The residents’ and employees’ health is our No. 1 priority and we will continue to adapt our protocols to respond to the ever-evolving threat of this pandemic,” Mackey said. “We are deeply saddened by the losses that this disease has caused, but are hopeful that we will overcome this challenge together and again see our community and residents thrive.”
The return will happen slowly, and in several waves, to ensure the safety of residents and employees.
Freedom Square told Florida Politics the Seminole Pavilion had been professionally cleaned and it has implemented additional infectious disease protocols to prevent another outbreak from occurring.
The two latest deaths include 74-year old Donald Jack who died at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg and 84-year old Christopher Pugh who died at the Suncoast Hospice Care Center, according to the Tampa Bay Times, which obtained information from the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner’s Office.
Jack was reportedly taken to Northside Hospital Friday with pneumonia and died Tuesday. He had underlying health conditions, in addition to advanced age, including hypertension, diabetes and lymphoma.
Pugh was transferred to Largo Medical Center on April 13 and then moved to hospice care eight days later. The medical examiner’s report noted he had respiratory distress and brain damage when he was initially transported to the hospital.
Freedom Square has been working with the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County to implement mitigation strategies, though some residents have begun to test positive at a second nursing home facility on the campus, Freedom Square Rehabilitation Center. That facility has not turned up any new cases since last weekend.
The Department of Health is working with Freedom Square to ensure it has adequate personal protective equipment going forward, which it lacked prior to the outbreak.
The residents return comes as the pandemic’s trajectory continues to flatten in Pinellas County. Only a handful of new cases were reported by health officials day-to-day this week, and the nursing home surge accounted for many of them.
Florida Politics’ Janelle Irwin Taylor contributed to this report.
