Bridgeport, as well as two empty ones, providing
about 500 beds.
All patient transfers have been voluntary, said
Athena spokesperson Timothy Brown. They have
been quarantined in their temporary homes and
promised they will return to their original site,
he said.
To entice companies, the state is doubling the
Medicaid reimbursement for the COVID-19
recovery centers to $600 a day per resident.
Typical pay for staff at the Athena homes will
nearly double to $35 an hour for a certified
nurse’s aide, $50 an hour for a licensed practical
nurse and $70 an hour for a registered nurse,
Brown said.
Elsewhere, a 34-bed home in Salt Lake City
is being transformed into a recovery center.
The decision came after six residents and two
workers tested positive and one resident died.
In Worcester, Massachusetts, the Beaumont
Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center this
month became a recovery center. Plans to
transfer healthy residents were temporarily
disrupted as some began testing positive for the
fast-spreading virus.
The long-term care ombudsman for Connecticut
has heard both compliments and complaints.
“It’s very important to ask that individual
rights are protected in people’s homes, and so
I think our state is going very slow because of
that,” said Mairead Painter, the ombudsman.
“We don’t want to go so slow that we don’t
react appropriately, but we also don’t want
to rush and neglect the fact that this is
somebody’s home.”