Residents Evacuated After Pasadena Nursing Home Hit Hard By COVID-19 Loses License
PASADENA (CBSLA) – Dozens of residents were moved out of a Pasadena nursing home late Thursday night after it was stripped of its state license amid a coronavirus outbreak at the facility which has claimed eight lives.
At around 11 p.m., several ambulances lined up outside Golden Cross Health Care facility, located at 1450 N. Fair Oaks Ave., in order to remove residents and relocate them to other nursing home facilities.
The interim chief for the Pasadena Fire Department told reporters at the scene that firefighters and paramedics were called out to move 63 residents because Golden Cross was delicensed by the California Attorney General's office.
Pasadena city spokesperson Lisa Derderian told CBSLA that the nursing home's license was revoked by the state because of "a lack of patient care, including response to COVID-19." Derderian said none of the transferred residents required hospitalization. All the transferred residents have been isolated and are being tested for coronavirus.
According to the latest numbers from the city of Pasadena, Golden Cross has had 104 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 72 among residents and 32 among staff. Eight people have died of the disease.
It was one of several skilled nursing facilities across L.A. County to which National Guard medical teams were deployed back in April.
Olivia Scally told CBSLA early Friday morning that she just received word that her mother would have to be moved.
"I think it was too many patients that were ill, and they didn't get it under control with the National Guard, but I believe that for the welfare of the patients, that they decided that they would separate them to other facilities, and my mom is one," Scally told CBSLA.
Scally didn't yet know where her mother was being taken.
Derderian said the city fire and police departments had been working with the National Guard and the California Department of Justice to try and resolve the issues at Golden Cross, but eventually determined that it was in the best interests of the residents that they be moved. She said several problems were discovered at the nursing home unrelated to coronavirus.
"Some elder abuse, so our police department is involved, we have seen care that is not provided, leading to dehydration and in some cases, some malnourshment of some of the patients," Derderian said Friday.
Nineteen long-term care facilities in Pasadena have reported at least one case of coronavirus. Brighton Care Center, which is also located on Fair Oaks Avenue -- only about a half-mile from Golden Cross -- has had the largest outbreak, with 128 coronavirus cases and 16 deaths.
There have been 1,023 confirmed coronavirus cases in Pasadena and 84 deaths. Across L.A. County as a whole, there are 68,875 confirmed cases and 2,813 deaths. Nursing home residents have accounted for about half of all coronavirus fatalities in L.A. County.
