Lisa Colombo is running a newly installed clinical command team at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke in the aftermath of the deaths of more than 50 veterans and the suspension of its superintendent.
Dr. Colombo, the executive vice chancellor of Commonwealth Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the MGH Institute in 2009. She arrived at the veterans' home March 30 with a team of medical professionals that included experts in infection control, logistics, finance, and operations.
Staffing shortages caused residents to be clustered together, causing the COVID-19 virus to sweep through the facility. Nearly 70 percent of the veterans have been infected.
Colombo was among several people who spoke to the home’s board of trustees on April 16. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, she said staffing shortages led to consolidating the building’s 10 units even though veterans and staff were still waiting on COVID-19 test results.
“The staff was really challenged to take care of patients across those 10 units,” the Gazette reported Colombo saying at the meeting, which was conducted over a conference call. “They had before our arrival consolidated units down to seven units, which resulted in the overcrowding of most of those units.”
When asked what the local community could do to help, the paper reported Colombo said that those working in the facility deserve support. “The staff that continue to show up every day despite the fact that they’re literally in the middle of a hot spot in this pandemic,” she said, adding that the state has brought in professionals to provide emotional support for those employees. “You can imagine how difficult this has been for them, considering these are folks who they have developed longtime relationships with.”
The state has initiated four investigations into how COVID-19 spread so quickly. Three were ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker, state Attorney General Maura Healey, and U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, and the state House and Senate plan to hear sessions when they can return to work. The trustees voted to hire a law firm to represent it during proceedings.