Three additional residents have died from complications of the novel coronavirus at the Marquis Hope Village Post-Acute Rehab Center in Canby, the facility reported Tuesday, bringing the total to seven.
“Our Marquis at Hope Village facility team and the entire Marquis organization are grieving due to the loss of three additional residents that recently passed away due to the coronavirus,” April Diaz, Marquis Companies’ vice president of clinical services, told the Canby Now Podcast. “Our hearts continue to go out to the family and friends of these residents, and to the staff who have cared deeply and tirelessly in their final days.”
The facility has seen a total of 69 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, including 36 staff members and 33 residents, making it the state’s largest active outbreak at a long-term care facility.
The facility had 38 residents when the outbreak began, meaning virtually all have tested positive. They are exhibiting a range of symptoms, including some who have none at all.
The rehab center serves residents with chronic medical conditions or who have recently been hospitalized for treatment or surgery. They are, in the words of Marquis officials, “medically fragile.”
“Many have chronic conditions that put them at high risk for their health to rapidly change,” Diaz told the CNP in an earlier interview. “Sadly, when they are infected with the coronavirus, because of the nature of the infection, they often don’t have the strength to fight it.”
For each resident, Marquis care staff follow medical orders that include their primary care providers’ specific treatment and advanced care plans, as well as instruction about what to do or not do during an emergency.
“The form asks questions so that the clinical care team can carry out the wishes set forth by the residents and/or families,” Diaz said. “These wishes may include no further hospitalization, less invasive medical interventions, or do not resuscitate. In the case of each of our residents who have passed, the clinical team was following the residents’ and/or families’ directive.”
Fortunately, the outbreak appears to have not spread to the adjacent Marquis Hope Village Assisted Living Facility, which is located in the same building and has approximately 74 residents and 46 dedicated staff members. All have tested negative for the virus as of Monday.
Licensing staff from the Oregon Department of Human Services is making on-site visits to the facility at least once a week to monitor infection control practices, personal protective equipment supplies and staffing levels, according to Elisa Williams, a spokeswoman for DHS.
“DHS, [Oregon Health Authority] and the local public health authority will continue to have frequent contacts with the facility,” she said, “to ensure residents’ care needs are being met and residents and staff, who are not infected — including those in the adjacent assisted living facility — aren’t at risk.”
