Heritage Specialty Care in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Heritage Specialty Care, the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak in Iowa, provided an update to the situation unfolding at the facility in southwest Cedar Rapids.

The center, at 200 Clive Dr. SW, offers rehabilitation services, skilled nursing care, long term care and hospice care. As of late March, Heritage had 125 staff and 110 residents.

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Spokesman Jason Bridie sent the following on Saturday, April 11, 2020:

Heritage Specialty Care has experienced a total of 60 residents and 30 staff members testing
positive since March 24, 2020. We are saddened to report as of end of day, Friday, April 10,
2020, 14 of the 60 residents testing positive have passed away.

The hearts, thoughts and prayers of our Heritage staff and our organization go out to the families of these special loved ones. As we continue to battle this virus, we are encouraged by the slowing rate of positive tests we are experiencing. Of the 60 residents testing positive, 14 have recovered.

Of 30 staff members testing positive, 7 are back to work.

For the past three weeks as an added layer of comfort and support for those residents and
families facing end-of-life at Heritage, the Care Initiatives Hospice Cedar Rapids-based team
has designated two care givers full-time to serve only at Heritage. They have worked alongside the Heritage team both days and evenings to support families through the use of Facetime and phone calls for closure as well as providing cares and comfort measures for the dying residents not desiring intervention or aggressive treatment.

The hospice program offers ongoing grief support for families for 13 months following the death of a loved one. Care Initiatives Hospice social workers and spiritual support counselors also are calling families to support them and have met families to pray or process closure as desired.

We’d like to provide a moment of gratitude to our heroic staff at Heritage Specialty Care,
including our Reliant Rehabilitation therapists and our Care Initiatives Hospice nurses. For
most healthcare providers their work is personal to them. This been the case for the
employees at Heritage as they provide care for our residents in these very difficult times.

Our frontline employees at Heritage are persevering after nearly three weeks of fighting off Covid-19. Through it all they have galvanized as a team to go to work each day to support each other and more importantly, to be there for the residents who need them 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week.

We are grateful for the compassion our employees show and the dedication they demonstrate each day for our residents. We are also mindful of the stress this situation puts on residents and their families. To that end, we are doing our best to keep the residents and
families informed.

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