Seven residents of a Co Meath nursing home have died as a result of Covid-19.
The residents were among 13 in the Millbury nursing home on Commons Road, Navan, who contracted the disease.
Millbury is a private nursing home with a maximum number of 66 residents in en-suite rooms. It opened in 2010.
Home owner Lucy Flynn said she asked if it was possible to do blanket testing of the residents and staff at a time when eight to nine residents were presenting with symptoms of Covid-19 three and a half weeks ago. However, she said that offer was refused by the HSE.
She described the scale of death in the home as “devastating and heartbreaking” and said it might have been avoided if residents and staff had all been tested earlier.
“If that had happened, we would be in a far different place to where we are now,” she said.
“I also think that the emphasis was put on the acute sector - the acute hospitals getting ventilators and ICU beds. This is extremely important but this Covid-19 is something that affects our frail, vulnerable elderly people and you find them in nursing homes.
“More emphasis should have been put on how ready we all were for the arrival of Covid-19.”
She said all but one of the seven who died had made the decision to remain in the nursing home in their final days.
“We touched base on this conversation with them after diagnosis and all bar one wanted to stay with me.
“They were very confident that the staff were able to look after them. We had no problem in delivering that standard of care and they know the residents so well.
“We have great moments of sadness and great emotion. We are all very sad and distraught for our residents that their families can’t be with them.
“But we have to give hope. I believe the situation has very slowly improved. The carers know the residents so well. Everything we can do to keep morale up we are doing. It’s a very lonely time for the residents at present.”
Tested
All staff and residents will be tested on Wednesday for Covid-19. Ms Flynn said the home had done everything it could to keep Covid-19 out and no visitors have been allowed since March 6th.
She said it had been “truly heartbreaking” to witness the death of so many residents without anybody being there with them when they died.
“The residents’ families come to the window. They telephone, they whatsapp, there are video calls. It is not the same as the human touch, holding your Mum or Dad’s hand for the final time,” she said.
She described the seven who died as “wonderful people - the majority of them are local and they made a huge decision to come into long-term care.
“They were very active within the nursing home on all our numerous committees. Unfortunately, they all had underlying medical conditions. It was with great heartbreak that we said goodbye to them. I can’t tell you how devastating the situation is for us.”
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who is also a local TD, said there ought to be an independent review into the Government’s handling and treatment of nursing homes.
He said among the questions that will need to be answered is why the Government allowed visits to nursing homes to continue on March 10th only for it do a U-turn later and close all such facilities to the public.
“Why did the government exclude staff in nursing homes and nursing home representatives - the real experts in the field - from the National Public Health Emergency Team?,” he asked.
“Why were visits to nursing homes not stopped when the sector sought them to be stopped, why the delay in the testing of staff and residents and why the delay in the spending of much needed funds?”.
