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BURLINGTON — Betty LaBombard died without ever knowing she had the coronavirus.
The 95-year-old Burlington Health & Rehab resident had a slight cold on Tuesday, March 19, but it was “nothing severe, nothing to worry about, staff assured her niece Holly Barrett-Willard.
The following day, LaBombard’s oxygen levels plummeted. She died around 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 21.
It was a rapid downturn for LaBombard, a lively woman who frequented Burlington Health & Rehab’s social events and just days before had seemed to be in good health. “She just turned 95, and you wouldn’t even know it,” said Barrett-Willard. That was the hardest part, she added — “we all saw her, and to see her and then have her pass away three days later. … None of it [made] sense to anybody.”
It was only on Thursday afternoon that Barrett-Willard and her family members learned that LaBombard had tested positive for COVID-19. They grew alarmed at the lack of precautions that had been taken in the days leading up to her death. Barrett-Willard had visited LaBombard in her aunt’s final hours, she said. LaBombard’s roommate wasn’t given a mask or protection; staff and residents were also exposed to her, according to Barrett-Willard.
Since LaBombard’s death, the disease has swept through the Pearl Street facility, which serves 90 residents. She was the first of 17 to test positive for the virus, and one of seven who die from it. Ten staff members have also tested positive.
Burlington Health & Rehab has become a hotbed of the state’s epidemic, where 158 people have contracted the virus, and nine have died.
The outbreak has sparked criticism from frustrated family members and fearful residents, who wonder whether Health & Rehab staff members followed protocol and whether administrators could have acted more quickly to protect those under their care.
Following LaBombard’s death, Burlington Health & Rehab quarantined 14 staff members.
On Tuesday, they moved 10 short-term residents to a hotel. That plan was derailed after staff realized the residents had been exposed to someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus, and they were quickly moved to the University of Vermont Medical Center. Another Burlington Health & Rehab resident who was transferred to the South Burlington Residence at Quarry Hill elder care facility also tested positive for the virus this week.
Lori Mayer, a spokesperson for Genesis HealthCare, a national company that owns Burlington Health & Rehab, said staff had done everything in their power to prevent the spread of the disease. “All staff are wearing the required personal protective equipment for their own safety and the safety of those they care for,” she said in an email. “This virus does not discriminate. These doctors, nurses, nurses’ aides and others are putting themselves in harm’s way to care for their patients and residents day in and day out.”
A staff member echoed that sentiment in a social media post in which she reported that she had tested positive.
“It was with little hesitation that I entered into rooms of patients suspected of having, then known to have the virus,” she wrote. “I did my very best to follow precautions absolutely. Still, the tenacious little germ found its way through some corner of mask or gown, into my lungs, and here I am.”
LaBombard had lived in the facility for three years. The Burlington native was a socialite, with a deep familiarity with the city and its residents; she had worked as a waitress for F.W. Woolworth on Church Street for decades, Barrett-Willard said, and she sang in her church choir.
At Burlington Health & Rehab, she developed strong connections. Her family had considered moving her elsewhere, but she resisted. LaBombard had good friends there, played bingo regularly, and went on all the outings. She also advocated for those around her: When her roommate didn’t receive the bacon she ordered for breakfast, LaBombard would march down to the kitchen and fetch it for her.
“She was a social butterfly, was what she was,” Barrett-Willard said.
When she fell sick, two people with knowledge of the situation said that LaBombard’s curtain by her bed remained open; she wasn’t given a mask to prevent those around her from getting sick. On the second day of the illness, when she took a turn for the worse, Barrett-Willard said that she and other family members asked Burlington Health & Rehab to call an ambulance to take LaBombard to the hospital. Staff members refused, citing quarantine efforts, she said.
A doctor conducted a COVID-19 test that night, but didn’t notify the family at the time. Staff members also let Barrett-Willard visit her aunt Thursday morning. The room wasn’t cleaned thoroughly until three days after her death, she said.
Four people said they saw staff and residents moving between floors in the same time period; some didn’t wear personal protective gear, they said. Family members and residents reported lobbying staff for days — as much as a week — before they could get tested.
Mayer said she couldn’t speak to issues regarding specific patients, but called the assertion that staff were not wearing personal protective equipment “unequivocally false.”
The facility hosts video calls for residents and family members twice a day, she said, and is “very forthcoming with information on those calls.”
She also defended the testing policies at Burlington Health & Rehab. “When we obtain the results of a positive COVID-19 test, we notify patients, residents and/or their representatives of the results,” Mayer said. “It is understandable that the public feels everyone in the facility should be tested, however the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Vermont Department of Health are directing only those who are symptomatic and with fever be tested.”
Albert Petrarca, who was receiving rehab at the facility after foot surgery, said he didn’t leave his room for three weeks out of fear of contracting the disease.
Even after the facility instituted protocol to protect staff and residents from COVID-19, “some people would come in the room without a mask, some people without gloves,” he said.
After residents tested positive, the 70-year-old Petrarca started raising a ruckus, confronting the facility’s executive director Ross Farnsworth, demanding action from Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, emailing members of the press. As the virus spread in the floors above him, he learned of the cases, and subsequent deaths, from news reports — never from staff, he said.
A man who cares for one of the residents said his friend wasn’t given any information until he pressed staff for it. Being forced to “dig around” for information “dismantles a certain level of confidence and security,” he said.
The Burlington Health & Rehab building, a stodgy brick structure with vacant, pastel-colored walls, has come under scrutiny before. The facility has lower than average health care ratings on Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare website. The facility was cited for low staffing levels last year. In 2018, it was fined $13,000 after a resident choked on a grape and died. In April 2019, a resident with serious medical conditions and mental health issues was discharged from Burlington Health & Rehab and later developed a life-threatening urinary tract infection.
In February, Attorney General TJ Donovan announced a $740,000 settlement with three Genesis-owned nursing homes, including Burlington Health & Rehab, after he sued them for neglect.
The chaos and outcry have sparked scrutiny from state and local officials. Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said he was “deeply concerned,” and called it “a very tragic situation.” Health Commissioner Mark Levine initially called for an investigation by the CDC in addition to the state inquiry. Ultimately, both said their fears were assuaged.
Levine said Burlington Health & Rehab followed protocol to address the situation. Weinberger also reported “reassuring calls” with facility doctors, administrators and the state. Staff had provided “compassionate and heroic” care to ailing residents, he said — and had at times faced harassment from members of the public.
“We have every reason to believe that Burlington Health & Rehab did excellent work, with high standards, in an extremely challenging situation and that they will continue to do so,” said Monica Hutt, commissioner of the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living. But she added, it will have to continue that work in the midst of “what seems like an impossible situation with no clear end in sight.”
On Thursday, Burlington Health & Rehab had more confirmed cases among patients and staff. Weinberger pointed out that the new cases may mean the worst is yet to come. “It’s a sign that we could have more bad news in the days ahead,” he said.
