MOULTRIE, Ga. — Mass testing at Legacy Village at Park Regency has found 11 residents and a staff member with COVID-19, a Legacy Village spokeswoman told The Observer Monday evening.

The tests were prompted when positive cases were discovered following a tornado April 29 during which multiple residents sheltered together in an interior part of the building.

Janice Patton, vice president of business development of Legacy Village, the management company that operates Legacy Village at Park Regency, said a sitter who’d been with one of the residents in Park Regency’s memory care section during the tornado called the facility the next day to let them know she’d tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Patton said the staff immediately tested the sitter’s patient, who also tested positive.

“We made the decision the next day [to test everyone at the facility],” she said.

Colquitt Regional Medical Center staff tested all 52 residents and 45 staff members at Park Regency. Of those, nine residents of the memory care section and two in the assisted living section tested positive, she said. One staff member also tested positive.

“All were related to the tornado event where we were forced to come out of isolation,” Patton said.

Allen Chambers, executive director of Legacy Village at Park Regency, said residents who tested positive were immediately transferred to Colquitt Regional.

“All of the residents are currently asymptomatic and doing well at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, where they were immediately transferred — after Legacy Village at Park Regency initiated a rapid response testing program following the recent tornado emergency,” Chambers said.

He said the sitter is also doing well, and he emphasized that 44 of the facility’s 45 employees tested negative.

“These results go to show that our infection control measures are working,” Chambers said, “and we have heroic team members at Legacy Village at Park Regency to thank. They have done their utmost to keep our residents and each other as safe and healthy as possible while compassionately serving the needs of those who have been entrusted to our care.”

Jim Matney, president and CEO of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, concurred.

“We’re very happy the employees were negative,” Matney said. “It shows us that the staff were using proper procedures and wearing their PPE, following infection control protocols. And I think that had it not been for the tornado we wouldn’t have even had the small amount of spread that we did.”

In a press release over the weekend, Legacy Village said only one assisted living resident had tested positive, but Patton’s update Monday evening said there were two. The initial positive patient was part of a husband and wife couple who lived at the facility. The spouse had tested negative, the press release said.

Patton did not say whether the second assisted living resident was in fact the spouse of the first patient or someone else in the section.

The press release said the spouse who tested negative for COVID-19 had been placed under isolation and will be retested next week. As a precautionary measure, all staff will wear full protective equipment — including KN95 mask covered by a surgical mask, gown and face shield — while serving and caring for this resident, the release said.

Dena Zinker, MSN, RN, FACHE, vice president of patient services and chief nursing officer of Colquitt Regional Medical Center, praised Legacy Village at Park Regency for open lines of communication with the hospital and quick action to stop the virus.

“It means so much for the community that we work together to care for,” Zinker said. “We started meeting at the beginning of this threat earlier this year and continued during it as things progressed. This is great evidence of what happens when two organizations work together for the good of everyone. The residents we have from Legacy Village at Colquitt Regional for isolation are all doing well.” 

As a precautionary step, Legacy Village at Park Regency recently underwent infection control measures offered by the Georgia National Guard, the press release said. The services have been offered to all of the state’s long-term care facilities in effort to control the spread of COVID-19. 

“While we are thankful for these results, we believe one positive case is still too many,” said Melissa Boatwright, RN, regional director of operations for Legacy Senior Living. “We will continue to follow CDC guidelines, and watch closely for any potential symptoms or changes in both our residents and our staff. We are grateful to have strong partners at Colquitt Regional Medical Center, the local health department, and the National Guard for their quick response and their support.” 

Additional information will be posted at www.legacysl.net/coronavirus. More information is available by contacting Legacy Senior Living, (423) 478-8071.