Dan Reingold talks about the challenges of managing a nursing home in New York.
“We’re fighting a war without all the right ammunition,” said Dan Reingold, president and CEO of RiverSpring Health about the COVID-19 pandemic during a recent interview. RiverSpring includes The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, a 750-bed nursing home in the Bronx, N.Y.
Reingold talked with Len Fishman, director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, about a variety of topics, including:
Hospital transfers: RiverSpring Health worked in partnership with New York Presbyterian Hospital to create a 22-bed unit that will be used to manage the needs of COVID-19 patients coming out of the hospital. As RiverSpring residents begin to test positive for the virus, they will be moved into that unit, says Reingold. An additional 40-bed unit may be added if needed.
Testing people who come from hospitals: New York has told nursing homes they cannot test people for COVID-19 when they transfer from a hospital. “But what you can do is treat everybody the way you would treat anyone, which is to take proper infection control protocols and implement them across the board,” says Reingold “That’s what I think people have to do.”
Staff shortages: Reingold reports that a higher-than-normal number of staff members are calling out during the COVID-19 emergency. This may be related to childcare issues, or in response to his organization’s strong directive to say home if you feel sick. “But then the third reason is, there’s probably a lot of anxiety out there,” he says. “On the flip side, I’ve been making a point of walking every floor and speaking to every employee and they inspire me.”
Keeping residents and families engaged: RiverSpring Health had developed a “very robust interactive process,” featuring Facetime, Skype, and Zoom, to help residents cope with visitation restrictions. “We have our therapeutic activity staff going to the floors and showing residents how to activate those things so that they can talk to their families,” he says.
Causes of anxiety: “I think part of the anxiety and challenge in running a health care institution right now is not knowing when it’s going to end,” Reingold concluded. “When the surge in the hospital ends, ours is probably just beginning.”