Legislative panel discusses steps to fix organizational lapses at Soldiers’ Home
An ambulance arrives at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke on March 31, 2020. COVID-19 killed 77 veteran residents at the facility. STAFF FILE PHOTO
Modified: 1/24/2021 3:42:59 PM
HOLYOKE — Infection control policies, set staffing schedules and protocols for staff training are among measures aimed at improving conditions at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, hard hit by a COVID-19 outbreak last spring.
In a meeting of a special joint oversight committee of the Legislature on Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders told lawmakers that interim Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Val Liptak and the team on site are taking a series of steps to make sure that conditions that contributed to the deaths of 77 veteran residents never recur again.