PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — After 117 cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths were connected to Healthcare at Foster Creek, the Oregon Department of Human Services suspended their state license.
The emergency suspension was announced late Tuesday afternoon. A search is on now to find different care providers for more than 100 residents at Foster Creek. DHS and other state agencies began taking action on March 24.
Cluster of COVID-19 deaths at Oregon nursing home
DHS: 14 deaths, 50 cases at Portland’s Foster Creek nursing facility
“We have worked on multiple strategies to contain the COVID-19 outbreak at Healthcare at Foster Creek and have concluded that moving all residents is mandatory at this stage,” Mike McCormick, the interim director of the DHS Office of Aging and People with Disabilities, said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by COVID-19 at this facility and our focus now is on providing a smooth transition for residents and their families.”
Oregon-licensed long-term care facilities reporting COVID-19 cases or pending tests
‘He’s going to be fine’
Carl Clark’s father is one of those who were directly impacted by the outbreak at Foster Creek. Clark told KOIN 6 News on Tuesday his dad was a resident at the facility when other residents started to fall ill.
“We heard about the cases there—at that time there were 10—and we raised concerns and they scoffed at those concerns,” he said. “They were like, ‘Oh, no, he’s going to be fine, he’s with the same people he’s been with since October, he’s in his room, we’re confining him there, we’re trying to keep things as clean as possible, we’re taking his temperature regularly.'”
Clark said he asked the facility if he could take his father somewhere else.
“They said, ‘No, that’d be ill-advised because he could get it in transit.'”
But Clark’s father did become sick with COVID-19. He is still recovering at an ICU in Portland.
