Young woman placing a mask on her grandmother

(Credit: Daniel Balakov / Getty Images)

A staffing crisis caused by a spike in COVID-19 cases led a Watertown, MN, assisted living community to issue a call for help to family members in caring for residents.

Westwood Place is in the midst of its first COVID-19 outbreak, according to a report from WCCO. Nine of the community’s 24 residents, all vaccinated and boosted, tested positive over the holidays. Nine of its 31 staff members, including Director Cindy Clearence, also tested positive.

None of the cases is serious, according to the media outlet. 

With fewer staff members available to care for residents, the community asked families to temporarily take in their unaffected loved ones for at least the next week. As of Monday, four residents had moved in with family members to take the burden off of remaining staff members.

According to the media outlet, 30% of the states’ assisted living communities are not taking any new residents due to the pandemic.

A recent Health Affairs study pointed to the importance of informal family caregivers — something that came to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the study, older adults living in assisted living communities received an average of 65 hours of informal care per month from family members. 

The authors said that acknowledging and creating a more formal role for this “invisible workforce” of informal family caregivers could benefit residents, professional caregivers and staff members in assisted living communities and other long-term care residential settings. 

Westwood Place had not responded to requests for comment from McKnight’s Senior Living by the production deadline.

Related Articles