In what could be the largest coronavirus outbreak in a senior care home in Oregon, 14 residents and 15 employees at Laurelhurst Village in Southeast Portland have been confirmed for COVID-19.
“We are taking every measure possible to keep our residents and staff safe,” said Brad Litle, a corporate manager for Avamere, the company that manages Laurelhurst Village and 32 other nursing homes in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico.
The Laurelhurst home’s cases could exceed those at the state’s Edward C. Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon, long considered the epicenter of Oregon’s COVID-19 epidemic with the most concentrated cluster of people with positive tests.
The veterans home has 16 confirmed cases among residents. Two of them, including a 91-year-old man, have died.
At least five employees also have infections, an email obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive and interviews with health care workers at the nursing home show.
The state agency that owns the veterans home, the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, has repeatedly declined to say how many employees have been diagnosed, beyond one staff case announced early in the outbreak.
Washington County’s Regency Park Assisted Living, run by Cascade Living Group, has announced 14 cases there, including eight residents, one of whom has died, and six staff.
Laurelhurst Village is a complex of three buildings that serve residents with different kinds of needs. The senior care home’s confirmed cases have been limited to staff and residents in the building for long-term nursing care.
Of 29 senior care homes that the state said have reported at least one confirmed coronavirus case, Avamere manages four – two in Portland, one in Hillsboro and one in Salem.
-- Fedor Zarkhin
desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin
This article was originally published by the Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving health issue.
