The outbreak of 27 COVID-19 cases at Green Mountain Treatment Center, a drug rehab facility in Effingham, has apparently doubled in size since it was first reported two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, a whistleblower has told the Sun that clients who tested positive for the coronavirus have been staying in a hotel in North Conway. This was also part of a NHPR report that Green Mountain has refuted.
Green Mountain’s caseload was reported by State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan during a news conference on Dec. 3 in Concord. According to Chan, there were 13 infections in residents and 14 among staff at the center.
A mere week later, the state was reporting 23 residents and 26 staff members at Green Mountain testing positive for COVID.
Green Mountain is a part of Granite Recovery Centers, which is headed by CEO Eric Spofford and headquartered in Salem.
The Sun spoke to Spofford and the center’s spokesman Josh McElveen of McElveen Strategies, based in Brookline, on Monday, the same day NHPR released its story about Green Mountain clients and staff complaining about a lack of testing, mask wearing and social distancing at the facility.
In the story, NHPR’s Lauren Chooljian said some COVID-positive clients were moved to Forest Glen Country Lodging in North Conway. She confirmed that a client identified as Robert Hunt was moved from the main campus and into a room there with a COVID-positive patient.
“It’s just frustrating; everybody comes here to try and get better, and the way that they’re handling this just isn’t right,” Hunt told Chooljian.
According to Chooljian, Granite Recovery Centers owns and operates the former Forest Glen Inn at 277 Artist Falls Road in North Conway.
A Granite Recovery staffer who is currently at home recovering from COVID-19 recently voiced concerns to the Sun about how Green Mountain and Forest Glen are being managed, claiming people who were probably exposed to the virus had been taken on shopping trips in North Conway and Ossipee.
Meanwhile, Spofford says Forest Glen is not part of Granite Recovery and takes issue with NHPR’s characterizing it as a “former inn.”
“We’re not going to chase our tail on responding to false allegations and unsubstantiated claims,” said McElveen. “All that serves to do is just stand in the way of our core mission, and that’s providing life-saving services, those seeking treatment for addiction.”
Spofford, reached Monday, said he owns Forest Glen, which he said has 35 rooms.
“It is a hotel, it pays meals and rooms tax, operates as a hotel,” said Spofford. “It does frequently rent rooms to people that are looking for housing in the area to continue treatment at Green Mountain Treatment Center.”
Spofford said the hotel and the treatment center both follow appropriate COVID guidelines but they are managed differently because they fall under different categories.
He said the hotel is a separate LLC from Green Mountain. Within the center, the Effingham facility is known as “The Mountain” while Forest Glen is known as “the hotel.”
In the NHPR story, it said Spofford had announced that Green Mountain was launching a new treatment program, specifically for people with COVID. “He said it involves an isolated unit for people with COVID that follows CDC guidelines,” Chooljian wrote.
That came as a shock to staffers, said the Granite Recovery staffer who caught COVID. She said the staffers became alarmed upon hearing that Spofford is reportedly creating a unit for COVID clients.
Asked about starting a COVID unit when cases seem to be rising quickly, Spofford said Green Mountain is well-prepared in terms of both staff and equipment. “We’re able to have dedicated staff for the COVID unit and so we’re not cross-contaminating staff,” said Spofford. “And they (staff) have really stepped up for the mission.”
The staff person said recently there were 39 positive clients at Forest Glen but that number changes over time.
Positive clients were brought from the Mountain to the hotel. Some people were infected at the hotel, said the source, and some positive clients remained on the Mountain.
The source said it’s total luck that Green Mountain didn’t have any known cases before late November.
“Our clients at the hotel were being bused in 15-passenger vans to the treatment center for programming every day, packed in,” said the staffer. “Groups on the Mountain are shoulder to shoulder, and clients have been serving themselves meals in a buffet line during the whole period of the pandemic.”
The staffer said a group of seven clients and staff from the hotel went shopping in North Conway around Nov. 30 after cases were detected at the hotel. The staffer said a few days later, a second group of about three people from a Green Mountain-run facility in Effingham went to an Ossipee store after there were a lot of confirmed cases.
“Staff were concerned that clients were sent shopping after being exposed to COVID-19,” said the staffer.
The staffer described what it’s like to be infected. “I can tell you from personal experience that with this virus, you can be doing really good one day and then the next day, boom, you’re struggling to breathe,” said the staffer, adding that Green Mountain is operating on a skeleton crew because so many staff members have either gotten sick or have quit.
In response to questions from the Sun, McElveen sent the newspaper written answers.
“Since the start of this pandemic, GR (Granite Recovery) has followed the guidance provided by HHS and CDC in an effort to safely navigate this unprecedented global event,” said McElveen.
“Like so many businesses and organizations in which personal interaction is required even in a limited capacity, COVID-19 had impacted a small number or our staff and clients,” he said.
“GR will remain vigilant in our efforts to protect and secure the environment in which our staff and clients spend time. We are confident the recent outbreak has been stymied.”
Spofford said even during a pandemic, people still need help with addiction.
“We’re still seeing an enormous amount of suffering of people with substance use disorders,” he said.
McElveen said the number of cases at Green Mountain is not unusual for a health-care facility of its size. Green Mountain has 300 staff and over 300 clients. According to Chooljian, it is the largest rehab company in the state.
McElveen dismissed the whistleblower’s claim about residents going shopping as “false.” Spofford said such claims are “absolutely not true.”
Asked about the lack of testing at Forest Glen, Spofford said they don’t test there because it’s a hotel.
Asked about Forest Glen’s status, Conway Town Manager Tom Holmes said: “We inquired of the owner, and he responded, in writing, that he was offering the place to clients strictly as hotel rooms only, with no treatment going on at the inn and that his clients were not required to stay there and were welcome to go to any other hotel or lodging arrangement,” said Holmes, adding that if there were treatment going on at the hotel, it could be a zoning violation.
However, the whistleblower told the Sun on Tuesday that hotel guests are receiving telehealth services and some in-person services.
Asked about the alleged shopping trip, Holmes said: “N.H. Division of Public Health Services indicates that if someone has been exposed to a person who has tested positive, the exposed person must quarantine for 14 days.
“That means no going to the grocery store. If people have violated this, they should be reported to DHHS.”
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