The American Health Care Association (AHCA) has released its new, short documentary titled, “Closed Doors, Open Hearts: Nursing Homes and COVID-19.”
The film provides an intimate look at of the day-to-day reality of the COVID-19 pandemic in two long term care facilities. Ararat Nursing Facility is a non-profit organization founded in 1949 that operates three residential care and nursing facilities on two campuses in Los Angeles and serves as a cultural center for the Armenian community. The Edgewood Centre is a family owned,150-bed senior care and rehab facility in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with the mission to provide resident-driven care. These two providers are different in many ways – from geography to the sheer facility size – but they shared many of the same experiences throughout the course of the pandemic.
Despite repeated requests for assistance, long term care facilities were not made a priority by public health agencies. Like many providers across the country, Ararat and Edgewood were forced to cope with inadequate and delayed access to testing and a national shortage of personal protective equipment.