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Coronavirus Crisis: Massachusetts Launches Nursing Home Family Resource Hotline

BOSTON (CBS) -- Massachusetts has started a hotline to help families get information about their loved ones' care at nursing homes, which have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The family resource line number is 617-660-5399.

"Yesterday we launched a nursing home family resource line - a dedicated telephone line that will connect family members of nursing home and rest home residents with information and resources that they need," Health and Human Services Sec. Marylou Sudders said at a news conference Tuesday. "The resource was created so family and community members have one central contact that they can reach out to if they have questions or concerns about the care their loved one is receiving during this COVID-19 pandemic."

The hotline is staffed seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Staffers coordinate with state agencies to find answers to callers' questions.

Twenty-five residents at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home and five at the Chelsea Soldiers' Home have died in recent weeks. Sudders said staff is being boosted at those facilities to keep families informed.

"We've increased the number of clinical staff, in particular social work and nursing staff, in order to have more contact with families and in order to insure that families get the information they need," she said.

 

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