National Guard providing covid-19 assistance at Twin Lakes Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Unity

The Pennsylvania National Guard has spent the last several days at Twin Lakes Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Unity, providing emergency assistance to the facility because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The staff assistance mission at Twin Lakes started Saturday. It is scheduled to end Wednesday.

A group of eleven guard members, including medics and registered nurses, are helping with day-to-day operations at the facility, according to Lt. Col. Keith Hickox, public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania National Guard.

“We have multiple teams like this throughout the state,” he said. “By now, most of them are fairly experienced at going and assisting in these long-term care facilities.”

Twin Lakes had a total of 107 coronavirus cases as of Saturday — 74 residents and 33 employees. Nine residents at the 137-bed facility have died. Administrator Arlene Runzo said in a statement the facility’s request for National Guard assistance was a proactive measure.

“I believe that every resource at our disposal is highly valuable as we work to manage covid-19 and support our residents,” she said.

Hickox said the guard’s missions at nursing homes and long-term care facilities are usually short term, meant to help replace staff members who cannot work because of illness or quarantine precautions.

“They’ve just run short for a short period of time, based on quarantines and such, so we’re just helping them get to the other side of that period,” he said.

The guard’s staff assistance missions have taken members to more than 30 Pennsylvania nursing homes. When including other coronavirus-related missions — such as rapid-testing initiatives — the guard has assisted at more than 80 facilities across the state.

The guard spent time at Hempfield’s Westmoreland Manor in late September and early October, the worst stretch of a coronavirus outbreak that has infected 203 people at the facility. Of those, seven died, the county reported.

“Prior to 2020, nobody ever dreamed that these types of missions would be coming. But this just goes to show how adaptable and how versatile the National Guard can be,” Hickox said. “We have so many military skillsets. But most of our members also have a civilian career that may be similar, but could be completely different, so we have a wide variety of skills available.”

This year, the state fined Twin Lakes Rehabilitation $8,750 and downgraded its license after inspections turned up numerous patient care violations, including a high medication error rate and incomplete patient records.