The Highlands of Memphis on Norriswood Avenue is enlisting several steps in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and a governor’s order putting restrictions on nursing homes.

The facility is not allowing any visitors or releases to doctor’s appointments, and even packages coming into The Highlands are being sanitized, according to facility employee Latesa Lake.

Anyone who does enter the facility has to sanitize themselves, have their temperature taken and fill out a health assessment, she said, adding the home has plenty of sanitizer, gowns and other protective equipment.

“The house workers are also working diligently to sanitize and keep everything clean,” Lake said.

State intervenes at Gallatin nursing home where more than 90 test positive

It’s the new mind-set at nursing homes in Memphis and across Tennessee in the COVID-19 crisis.

Applingwood Health Center in Cordova says it started suspending visitation before many other health care organizations did. Its new protocols reflect Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization guidelines for screening, testing, isolation and infection control, according to a spokesperson.

Any new admission is screened and held in an isolation room until COVID-19 results are returned, usually within 24 hours, and all employees are screened for fever and other symptoms of respiratory disease before each shift. Necessary visitors such as transport and delivery personnel are screened, too, before entering.

“Additional measures we’ve taken include suspending group activities, ensuring an adequate supply of personal protective equipment and enforcing the importance of remaining at home if staff are experience symptoms of illness,” the spokesperson said.

But even with such measures, a week after Gov. Bill Lee issued a statewide order designed to protect elderly and vulnerable people, a Gallatin nursing home still sustained a COVID-19 outbreak over the weekend affecting more than 100 residents and staff and claiming two lives.

Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin posted on its Facebook page it initially took 42 people Saturday from Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing, two of whom are deceased. It took 59 more Sunday and Monday, and another 34 non-critical patients were transported to Trousdale, Livingston and Riverview hospitals, according to the post.

Coronavirus daily blog, March 30: Gov. issues safer at home order; Strickland limits park access

Lee’s executive order No. 17, made March 22, prohibits people from visiting nursing homes, retirement homes or long-term care or assisted-living facilities unless they’re providing essential assistance or to visit residents for “imminent” end-of-life care. Those types of visits are to be done without risking the spread of coronavirus to residents using precautions such as distancing.

However, the governor’s Unified Command was forced to mobilize National Guard personnel and emergency medical services workers to respond to the outbreak at Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing.

Twenty-three nursing home residents were transported to Sumner Regional Medical Center Friday, March 27, by EMS personnel from Sumner, Cheatham and Dickson counties and First Call and MedicOne, according to a release from the governor’s office.

On Saturday, tests conducted with the help of the National Guard personnel showed 59 more residents and 33 staff members were positive for COVID-19. The residents were taken to Sumner Regional, and staff were told to isolate at home.

The state is “facilitating” a deep cleaning and disinfecting of the nursing home and providing support for residents who don’t have the virus, according to a statement. The nursing home was to undergo further investigation but is believed to have followed protocol, according to a state release.

Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown called it “truly a horrendous situation” showing how easily the virus can spread, according to a report by WPLN News, Nashville Public Radio.

Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt noted some “miscommunication” about the situation’s severity while pointing out nursing homes are overseen by the state, according to the report.

“We don’t have a lot of leverage with those folks, but you can see that this has not turned out real well,” Holt reportedly said at a Sunday press conference. “So their response has not been adequate. I’ll leave it at that.”

Still, the mayors have not called for a countywide shutdown.

The Gallatin nursing home released a letter to residents’ family members saying residents were transferred to hospitals for two to three days while the facility is cleaned. Families were to be notified of their loved one’s location.

“Our mission since the beginning of this global pandemic has been to be as proactive as possible and we will continue to do so to ensure your loved one’s safety,” the letter states.

In addition to its response to the Gallatin nursing home, the state issued further guidance to all nursing homes and assisted care facilities statewide outlining operating guidelines and when and how they should report COVID-19 cases.

“Unified Command has worked in partnership with the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing and local partners in testing residents, transporting the sick and further evaluating those at risk,” said Stuart McWhorter, director of the Unified Command. “This situation has escalated quickly and we urge nursing homes and assisted care facilities to reach out to us as soon as cases are identified within their populations.”

Another part of the governor’s executive order encourages people to us electronic or virtual communication to visit family, friends and loved ones in nursing facilities.

In addition, people and businesses are asked to take “particular care” in protecting people vulnerable to COVID-19, including the elderly and those with compromised immune systems or serious chronic medical conditions.

The governor’s office and the Department of Health have not responded to questions from The Daily Memphian.