The recent deaths of four residents of Amsterdam Nursing Home in Manhattan were the result of Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia caused by inhaling water droplets that contain Legionella bacteria, a state Department of Health investigation has found.
The Health Department has so far confirmed eight cases of Legionnaires at the 409-bed nursing home. Five of the eight cases have died, but the cause of death of the fifth case remains under investigation, a Health Department spokesman said.
Last week state health officials reported that two Amsterdam Nursing Home residents who died at a nearby hospital had Legionnaires’ disease, but the causes of death had not yet been determined.
Seven of the eight residents developed symptoms of the disease between late August and the first week of September, and all of them were in the facility’s western wing. The eighth resident died last year.
“Amsterdam Nursing Home continues to work closely with the New York State Department of Health to find the source of the bacteria,” Jeff Jacomowitz, a spokesman for Amsterdam Nursing Home, said in a statement. “Every passing is a tragedy and these residents were also part of our family. Our hearts go out to the families and all of their loved ones.”
Jacomowitz said the facility installed hospital-grade, FDA-approved filters on all its faucets and shower heads last year at the recommendation of the state Health Department.
State regulations require residential health care facilities to perform Legionella culture sampling and analyses of their drinking water systems annually and—in certain instances—after construction, repairs or the expansion or relocation of certain medical units. Jacomowitz told Crain’s earlier this month that the nursing home is “DOH fully compliant.”
Amsterdam Nursing Home is managed by Centers Health Care, a Bronx-based long-term-care company that operates about 50 skilled nursing and rehab facilities in the Northeast and Midwest. Last year an LLC run by Centers Health Care’s chief executive and an affiliate organization of the Mount Sinai Health System filed an application to acquire the home, but it is still under review by state regulators.
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