The 85 seniors who still live in the Corona-affected home in Schliersee are to remain there for the time being. A difficult decision for the crisis team due to the recent significant shortcomings.
Schliersee - It was a dilemma for Olaf von Löwis. With the Corona crisis team at the district office, the district administrator had to decide whether the 85 remaining residents of the senior citizen's home in Schliersee affected by the coronavirus should remain in the facility - despite considerable deficiencies there at times - or be transferred to other homes. Both options involve risks. Löwis: "This decision gave me restless nights."
Schliersee: Residents stay in problem home
On Friday, the crisis team decided to leave the residents in the home - "for the time being", as it says in a press release. The decision was by no means a matter of course.
On Wednesday, the district office had ruled that the facility could not currently be operated without the approximately 30 Bundeswehr soldiers who had been deployed there for weeks (we reported). Nurses had spoken about unwashed seniors and spoiled supplies, among other things, the authorities are investigating bodily harm. Because the Bundeswehr is pulling out on Sunday, the crisis team now had to determine how to proceed from Monday.
According to the crisis team, there are two reasons why seniors remain in the home despite all the problems. Firstly, it is legally difficult to close a home. Because the residents build trust relationships with carers, neighbors and routines, they should stay there as long as possible. In order to remedy defects, conditions would have to be imposed. A closure is the last resort if the conditions are not met.
The facility recently exceeded the requirements of the home supervision. Management and staff were almost completely replaced, the skilled worker rate was ten percent above the target. During the final inspection, a committee made up of home supervision, the health department, doctors and nurses, representatives of the government of Upper Bavaria and technicians found that the operation now works even without the Bundeswehr. So the residents can stay.
Reason two: leaving the residents in the home is the safer option compared to laying. Moving elderly people, some of whom are severely disabled and in need of care, to homes throughout Bavaria could cause them to become frightened, lonely and, in the worst case, die without a foothold in life. The crisis team wanted to spare them that.
The district office nevertheless has abdominal pain, as is clear in the press release, with the decision. In seven days, it would be impossible to finally remedy all shortcomings. "It is a very difficult consideration that we made together," says Löwis.
In order to alleviate the abdominal pain, the home supervisor will closely check the facility and impose conditions to remedy any shortcomings. The first: an admission freeze. The operator should concentrate on the existing seniors. If he does not meet these and other requirements, "all legal means will be exhausted". The relocation of the residents is then also possible.
The district office also states that the home supervision has fulfilled its tasks in the home. They checked the facility once a year as prescribed, the last time in November. No serious shortcomings were found. They were comparable to other institutions in the district. Two event-related controls would not have produced any special results in 2019.