State bars new patients from small Homestead ALF citing COVID infections, other issues

Saying the facility failed to ensure the safety, health and welfare of its residents, state regulators on Wednesday issued an emergency moratorium barring a Homestead assisted living facility from accepting new residents or readmitting old ones.

According to the emergency order filed by the Agency for Health Care Administration, Llina’s ALF, LLC, in Homestead failed to provide its staff members with competent isolation and contagion training during the COVID-19 pandemic, and, as a result, “has not provided residents with qualified staff to meet their needs.”

According to the order, a staff member at the six-bed facility tested positive for COVID-19 on July 9. Also, on Aug. 21, a resident was transferred to a hospital after refusing to eat or get out of bed. At the hospital, the resident tested positive for COVID-19.

“The respondent [the facility] was informed of the diagnosis but demonstrated no action taken, such as a quarantine of staff in contact with the resident, to minimize risk of further transmission of the virus throughout the facility,” the emergency order said.

The remaining three residents at the facility tested positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 27. Additionally, a second staff member tested positive.

Also, the emergency order said, a second resident was hospitalized as a result of COVID-19 symptoms “within the past few days.”

The emergency order said the facility had one bedroom for all of the residents.

“There is no indication that the respondent routinely or diligently sanitized the bedroom as part of any infection control precautions,” it said. And while facility staff members were observed on Sept. 3 wearing face masks, gowns and gloves, they were not wearing face shields. None of the residents were wearing masks.

The emergency order said the facility’s administrator “opined that she did not believe any of the residents had contacted the coronavirus, despite having been informed of the testing results by health care officials, and on at least one occasion, by a resident’s adult child.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 3:45 PM.