Walsh did not return multiple requests for comment via phone, email and text. He did release a statement to MassLive defending his actions, saying he provided regular updates to state officials about the number of residents and staff who were tested and their results after a resident tested positive on March 21.
He also said that all family members were contacted and told that a resident tested positive.
\"Our focus then and always was on the veterans and their families,\" Walsh said in his statement.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/holyoke-soldiers-home-rex-aa-200402_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
CJ Gunther/EPA via Shutterstock
PHOTO: A welcome sign is seen outside the Soldier's Home in Holyoke, Mass., March 31, 2020.
However, Rivera and Ramirez said they were not surprised at his behavior and did not believe he had their best interests at heart. Rivera said one example of that is her current paycheck. Her normal net pay is around $1,200, according to pay stubs she shared with ABC News. Yet her paycheck for the week where she was in the hospital amounted to only $518. She had not heard back from human resources despite multiple calls to them as to why her paycheck was lowered.
When the first veteran who was showing symptoms of coronavirus got tested, both employees said they were not given any protective gear to wear and the masks that were onsite were not handed out.
Bombredi said he was shocked to learn this and even more shocked to hear that leadership was saying otherwise.
\"They were telling everybody, 'We're following CDC guidelines, everybody's wearing safety equipment.' ... Every one of my workers said they're not doing this. They're lying,\" he said.
Rivera said when she brought a mask from home to wear, a manager took issue with her wearing it.
\"They were saying we didn't need a mask and it was for people that didn't get the flu shot and it was nothing going on and the gentleman that was coughing, they didn't know what was going on,\" she said. \"I had said, 'Isn't that more reason we should be wearing the mask?'\"
Both employees also said that when the veteran was awaiting test results, he was not separated from the other veterans in his room.
\"He still had roommates in that room. He was exposing those veterans,\" Ramirez said.
The veteran's test eventually came back positive, according to Rivera and Ramirez. Ramirez said he had learned from other staffers that it was a positive test on the evening of March 20. He said he didn't receive an email from management about the positive test until March 22.
The man's roommates were then moved to other units, however, staff said this proved to be ineffective because those roommates had already been exposed at that point.
\"They got moved into other bedrooms where other healthy veterans were. These veterans may be infected and now they're infecting others,\" Ramirez said.
Ramirez and Bombredi also said that when the veterans were moved around, many were put into rooms only meant to hold four. However with the added residents, some rooms held six, according to Ramirez and Bombredi. Other veterans were moved to the dining room, they said.
Bombredi said staff worried about eventually separating them.
\"Unfortunately, part of the worst news is that they never had to separate the unit,\" he said. \"So many died that the rooms are now at the correct amount again.\"
Bombredi said that the home has been understaffed for years. For him, it was not a matter of if, but when, a dire situation would arise and the safety of residents and staff would be thrown into question.
\"I keep hearing from everybody how quickly this developed. For us and our members, this happened in slow motion,\" he said. \"This was always going to happen, and unfortunately it happened with a deadly virus.\"
What to know about coronavirus:
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