LifeBridge Health reported there are now four confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital in Northwest Baltimore.
“As of today, we have four confirmed cases of COVID-19: one patient in the specialty hospital and three on our sub-acute rehab unit,” read a statement issued Apr. 1 by LifeBridge Health “From day one, our staff has been following protocols and appropriate precautions in caring for them. We have one staff member who has tested positive and who is recovering at home in quarantine.”
The statement noted that there are currently no positive COVID-19 cases among residents at Levindale’s long-term care facility.
“Since the Governor’s March 10 directive, there have been no visitors at Levindale,” the statement reported. “We have been screening and taking temperatures of employees as they report to work since early March and are working with our infection prevention teams and following [Centers for Disease Control] and Maryland Department of Health guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. …
“Levindale is a unique facility that offers several types of care, including a long-term residential care facility, sub-acute rehabilitation and a specialty hospital, which includes a high-intensity care unit,” LifeBridge said in the statement.
A 330-bed facility. Levindale’s geriatric center includes 126 comprehensive care (long-term care) beds, 35 sub-acute beds, 28 dementia care beds and a 21-bed respiratory care unit. The Specialty Hospital at Levindale consists of a 40-bed high intensity care unit and an 80-bed behavioral health unit.
Located at 2434 W. Belvedere Ave., directly across from Sinai Hospital, Levindale is an agency of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and became part of LifeBridge Health in 1998. It is named after Louis H. Levin, a former executive director of the Associated Jewish Charities, precursor to The Associated.
Levindale’s roots go back to 1890 when a group of Jewish immigrants opened the Hebrew Friendly Inn in East Baltimore to provide temporary lodging for newcomers to America. When that need tapered off, the inn became a facility for the elderly and chronically ill known as the Hebrew Home for Incurables.
In 1927, the Associated Jewish Charities decided to turn its recently built orphanage at Belvedere and Greenspring avenues into a home for the elderly. Originally called the Hebrew Home for the Aged and Infirmary, it eventually became known as Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital.
At Pleasant View Nursing Home in the Carroll County town of Mount Airy, five residents have died and there are 77 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases. Staff experiencing symptoms are also being tested. The National Guard deployed a medic unit at Pleasant View to help assess all residents, a number of whom were taken after triage to local hospitals to receive a higher level of care.