In the News

HOLYOKE — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal on Tuesday called for accountability after revelations about a dozen deaths at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, with several linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

During a telephone town hall, meanwhile, Neal reassured a woman whose husband lives in the state-run facility that public officials are working to understand what happened there and what can be done to halt the outbreak.

“We are anxious as you are to get that information,” Neal told the caller, who identified herself as a Springfield resident. She said her 86-year-old husband lives at the home but needs to go out regularly for lifesaving kidney dialysis treatments.

Neal asked that the woman remain on the line after the call and leave her contact information with his staff.

Neal, D-Springfield, said he will speak about the matter Tuesday afternoon with Marylou Sudders, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services, in another teleconference.

“I’m hoping that she can bring me up to speed on what went awry,” he said in an interview with The Republican / MassLive after the call. “We want to make sure that the residents are tested and, if infected, treated.”

Neal said the facility is a “very important part of our veterans retirement system,” and added that his own uncle lives at the Soldiers’ Home as well. Families across the region are deeply concerned, he said.

As a regular visitor, he said he knows how close the residents live to one another, particularly in the Alzheimer’s unit.

He said he’s also spoken with nurses at the home and with their union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

As many as 12 patients at the home who have died over the past week are thought to have had the virus. State officials said Tuesday that six of the dead tested positive, while results are pending for another five and the cause of death for one patient is currently unknown. A thirteenth veteran who died tested negative for the virus.

Earlier Tuesday, Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse blamed the outbreak on mismanagement and alleged a lack of urgency and transparency from the facility’s administrators.

On Monday, Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh was placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately. At the same time, officials revealed for the first time that the virus had been spreading rapidly through the facility, which employs about 240 and his home to about 210 veterans.

Morse is running in the Democratic primary against Neal, but neither is actively campaigning during the coronavirus crisis.

The town hall was Neal’s second, offering people an update on the coronavirus pandemic and the medical, as well as governmental, response.

The Holyoke Soldiers’ Home is one of a number of nursing homes across the country dealing with outbreaks.