The Regional Director of Chosen Healthcare which operates Washington Nursing Center, says it will be quote “business as usual”.
Over the weekend it was learned by the community and local officials that Chosen Healthcare planned to move residents out of Washington Nursing Center (WNC) to other facilities the company operates. WNC was then going to be transformed into a COVID-19 Treatment Center. Chosen Healthcare was planning to bring patients with coronavirus from outside the area into the Washington facility. The Regional Director Eric Ahlbrand told WAMW that they chose Washington because the building was the best choice of all of their facilities to utilize as a treatment center. He said they were encouraged to take the action by the state of Indiana and from the federal level.
After learning of the plans, social media blew up as residents’ families and local officials started to scramble to address the situation. Washington Mayor Dave Rhoads was very disappointed in what he said was the lack of communication from Chosen Healthcare.
Residents began to be moved Monday as protesters were present outside the nursing home. Monday morning the Daviess County Health Department issued an order of abatement to stop patients with COVID-19 from another county, state or country from being moved into any nursing home or assisted living center in the county. Mayor Dave Rhoads told us a bus with Washington Nursing Center residents had already left for Hanvover, Indiana where they were to be transferred. The bus was stopped en- route and instructed to return. Another bus was loaded at the nursing center ready to depart. We were told they were eventually taken back inside.
Information then changed several times throughout the afternoon. At first WAMW learned from county officials that the residents of Washington Nursing Center were being moved to other nursing home facilities within the county and that WNC would stay vacant until needed to handle any local overflow of COVID-19 patients when the state soon reaches it’s projected peak of cornonavirus cases. Then WAMW learned that residents at WNC would remain there for another 30 days. WAMW spoke to a person at Washington Nursing Center who did not want to be identified and all they said they could say was that the residents were there.
When Eric Ahlbrand returned a call at just after 6-pm, he told us that Chosen Healthcare will abide by the order from the Daviess County Health Officer. Ahlbrand added that Washington Nursing Center will not move the residents, will not be turned into a COVID-19 treatment center and will continue to operate as it has been.
