The General Directorate of Public Health of the Government of the Canary Islands has confirmed an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Hogar Santa Rita nursing home, in Puerto de la Cruz, which currently affects 51 residents and 20 workers. From the Ministry of Health it is clarified that for now “all those affected, users and workers have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, although they are in isolation with the corresponding monitoring.”
A court opens proceedings for alleged abuse in the nursing home made with “bits of heaven” in Tenerife
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During the first wave of the pandemic, this nursing home, the largest in the Canary Islands with a capacity of 710 beds, reported one of the largest outbreaks of coronavirus in a social health center, so the The Ministry of Health of the Canarian Government ordered its intervention.
This intervention led to a complaint by the staff of the Hospital de La Candelaria who worked there those days. In addition to the outbreak, workers from the Canary Islands Health Service reported episodes of malnutrition and scabies infections.
The situation of the macro-residence worsened after the complaint before the Labor Inspection on December 4, 2020, where they stated that the protocols were not being followed and that part of the staff who had not yet received the result of their PCR had to join their job. The UGT union also stated in the letter that there were personnel pending the result of the test wearing a surgical mask, since only the FPP2 type has been supplied to workers who go to isolated areas, supervisors and coordinators.
In January 2022, Court number 2 of Puerto de la Cruz opened proceedings on the management of Hogar Santa Rita after admitting the complaint filed by the Prosecutor’s Office. This court has admitted for processing the prosecutor’s complaint for alleged mistreatment of the elderly in said center and the commission of a crime of reckless homicide is not ruled out, according to judicial sources. The complaint was admitted on November 17.
A residence built thanks to the sale of “bits of heaven”
The Santa Rita Foundation is divided into modules I and II. The first of them was inaugurated in 1981 by Father Antonio Hernández, now deceased. Years later, the second part was built, more ambitious and that was raised thanks to the sale of “little pieces of heaven”, which “were acquired every time you contributed to the Work, and which are still in force”, it is remembered on its website. The collection of the “checks from Heaven” then amounted to nearly 2,000 million old pesetas. Currently, it is part of the socio-health infrastructures that the island of Tenerife has to deal with the high demand of people who require a center of this type (although it is a Foundation, it has multi-year agreements with the Cabildo of that island and the from La Gomera). In fact, according to a study by the Association of Social Managers and Directors, the Canary Islands need 7,000 more healthcare places and the Canarian Government has come to recognize that when the current infrastructure plan ends, more places will continue to be needed.
