Two B.C. care homes get extra help to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks

Specialized health teams have been sent to fight COVID-19 outbreaks at two Metro Vancouver long-term care homes. The Fraser Health Authority appointed a pandemic response director on Thursday at Langley Lodge, where more than 20 people have died from the virus in recent weeks.

It also sent extra staff to Nicola Lodge in Port Coquitlam after one resident tested positive Wednesday for COVID-19, said Dr. Martin Lavoie, Fraser Health's chief medical health officer. The resident was placed in isolation at the lodge, he said. "Over the past several weeks we've been supporting and offering guidance to Langley Lodge in different ways," Lavoie said at a news conference. "Today, we're talking further action and we have appointed our own director of pandemic response to provide oversight of the COVID-19 response at Langley Lodge and also to further support the facility leadership and staff."

The lodge website says it is a not-for-profit registered charity run by the Langley Care Society. It says the lodge in Langley provides long-term care for adults who can no longer live safely or independently at home because of their health-care needs. The lodge includes 121 funded spaces and 14 private pay spaces.

An official at the lodge referred questions about the COVID-19 outbreak to Fraser Health on Thursday. Lavoie said the COVID-19 outbreak at the lodge has been difficult to control. "It is our hope that these additional measures will support the site in controlling this complex outbreak," he said. "We're taking all the necessary steps to minimize the exposure to and transmission of COVID-19." Lavoie said extra nurses and staff are being called in along with infection control specialists who will use a specialized ultraviolet germ sterilization machine.

As of Wednesday, the Health Ministry said 111 people who have died from COVID-19 in the province were connected to long-term care facilities, assisted-living homes or acute-care hospitals. A total of 162 people had died from the virus.