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The Massachusetts Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker moved swiftly on reforms at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home focused on staffing, leadership and improving the outdated physical structure of the building, which was faulted, in part, for the scale of the COVID outbreak.
5 takeaways from legislative hearings on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home COVID outbreak: How much more do we know now?
Updated Feb 28, 2021;
Posted Feb 28, 2021
State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell chairs an October 2020 legislative hearing on the COVID-19 outbreak at the Soldiers Home in Holyoke, held at Holyoke Community College. (Don Treeger / The Republican file)
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Nearly a year after the beginning of the deadly pandemic that has changed the face of life as we knew it, the state Legislature’s Special Oversight Committee has held six hearings since October to examine the outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. The state-run, long-term care facility for veterans went from a sought after placement for end-of-life care to a touchstone of the horrors the virus can bring when unchecked.
Joan Miller a registered nurse at the home, said much of the suffering could have been avoided if state officials had hired someone licensed as a nursing home administrator.
Nurses do not agree with the state s belief that a lack of preparation and infection control protocols was the biggest factor behind a tragic COVID-19 outbreak at Holyoke Soldiers Home.