Pa. National Guard to help Beaver County nursing home with covid-19 outbreak

A Beaver County nursing home where at least 61 people have died from covid-19 is getting help from the Pennsylvania National Guard to respond to the outbreak, officials said.

“Throughout this unprecedented crisis, we have called on the state to provide us with the critical resources we needed to combat this virus,” officials at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center said in a statement. “We are grateful for the support and partnership of the National Guard and are confident that, together, we can protect our community.”

Pennsylvania Health Department spokesman Nate Wardle on Sunday confirmed use of the National Guard through May 18.

There will be 27 members of the National Guard who will work to support the staff at the facility, located in Brighton Township, according to the statement from the center.

They will help with cleaning, meal preparation and service, and daily living support like bathing and feeding, according to the statement.

“This support is critical as it will allow Brighton’s team of health care professionals to fully dedicate their time, resources and expertise to providing the increased level of specialized medical care that is required to combat covid-19,” the statement said.

Brighton is one of several long-term care facilities in the state that has requested and received additional personnel and logistics support from the Pennsylvania National Guard to help fight covid-19, Brighton officials said.

“Moving forward, we will continue to take every precaution necessary to keep our residents and our staff as safe as possible and reduce the spread of this unprecedented virus,” Brighton officials said in their statement.

The news comes about a week after state Rep. Rob Matzie, D-Ambridge introduced legislation calling for the immediate inspection of all nursing homes in the state because of the ongoing pandemic.

Matzie also wrote a letter to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, asking him to investigate the situation at Brighton in light of a class-action lawsuit filed in part by one of his constituents. The lawsuit alleged that lack of oversight by the state health department allowed Brighton to perform drug experiments on patients under the guise of clinical trials to prevent coronavirus.

Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning said he found out on Saturday that the Department of Health “was finally sending an assessment team into Brighton Rehab.”

“We have no details beyond that message and what we have read in media reports,” Manning said in an e-mail. “Anything that finally helps the residents and staff of Brighton Rehab and Wellness is a positive development.”

After May 18, the National Guard is expected to transfer its role to a Texas-based health care contractor, Wardle said.