Two patients of Western State Hospital have died from COVID-19 complications, while three more staff members have been diagnosed with the respiratory disease, Gov. Andy Beshear reported Wednesday in his daily briefing on the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Nine patients and seven employees at the psychiatric hospital have tested positive for COVID-19.
The Christian County Health Department reported the county’s first three deaths from the respiratory disease on Wednesday, and the governor confirmed that two of the people who died were Western State patients.
“Western State has been hit really hard,” Beshear said.
Although it is a psychiatric hospital, Western State does have the ability to treat medical problems at the facility.
“Western State Hospital has an internist on staff who has been fully involved in these cases,” Susan Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in an email to Hoptown Chronicle.
“The facility is providing medical care to the patients who are onsite and will treat unless/until respiratory issues occur that require additional attention. At that point the patients will be transferred to Jennie Stuart,” she said.
As of Tuesday, April 7, three patients had been transferred from Western State to Jennie Stuart Medical Center, Dunlap said.
Cabinet Secretary Eric Friedlander is directly involved in helping Western State with its response to the outbreak, the governor said.
Western State is not accepting new patients because of the coronavirus outbreak.
On Tuesday, April 7, the patient census at Western State was 123. The Western State Nursing Facility census was 97. The outbreak has been in Western State Hospital.
“Western State Hospital and Western State Nursing Facility are licensed and accredited separately and provide distinctly different types of care,” Dunlap said.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
