Nursing Home Evacuated After Positive Testing & No-Show of Care Takers / Riverside 4.8.20

RIVERSIDE – Nearly 100 residents are being removed from a skilled nursing facility in Riverside County after more than a dozen employees missed two consecutive days of work, according to county officials.

The 84 patients at the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center were being moved Wednesday to other locations throughout the county. Some were being discharged to be with their families depending on their needs, said Brooke Federico, Riverside County public information officer.

The Riverside University Health System and Kaiser Permanente sent 33 licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses to care for the residents at the facility when 13 employees didn’t show up for work Tuesday and Wednesday, Federico said. But the patients had to be moved right away due to staffing demands.

“The team that we were able to send from the county [was] not the long-term solution,” she said. The patients need to be moved “to other facilities that have permanent staff in place to care for residents.”

On late Monday evening, officials reported 34 positive cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, among patients and five among employees at the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Federico said. The five employees — who were not among the 13 who didn’t go to work — were sent home to self-quarantine, and the patients who tested positive were isolated from other residents.

As of Wednesday, there were no pending test results for the 90-plus-bed facility.

The nursing facilities that will receive the patients will undergo standard coronavirus containment measures, which include closing enrollment to new patients, prohibiting staff from working at other facilities, isolating sick patients and closely monitoring all patients and employees. All employees will use personal protective equipment, officials said. (LATIMES)

Emergency ambulance company from Mission Ambulance service, America Medical Response, PMT Ambulance service and Simmons Ambulance services are in a staging holding location assisting the evacuation of patients at the Magnolia Rehabilitation & Nursing center at 8133 Magnolia Ave. EMS personal were seen donning protective equipment and receiving information from supervisor on site.

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