Coronavirus: Inside the Northern Ireland care home where staff believe they are beating COVID-19

Forty-five percent of all coronavirus deaths in Northern Ireland have been in care homes – far higher than the 25% in England and Wales.

But the number fell last week for the first time and one facility in County Armagh has beaten the odds to record an 86% recovery rate.

Sky News was given exclusive access to Rosemount Care Home in Portadown where staff believe they are beating the virus.

Twenty-nine of their residents tested positive for COVID-19 but 25 of them have made a full recovery.

Bobby Sinnamon, 84, said he was frightened to go to bed at night in case he didn’t wake up the next morning.

He said: “I didn’t care whether I lived or died. As a matter of fact, I expected to die and I thought it would be a good thing. I prayed to God that he’d take me.

“I don’t want him to take me now. I’m ready to live a little longer.”

In Northern Ireland, where the reproduction or ‘R’ number is 0.8, nearly half of the COVID-19 deaths have occurred in care homes.

The support of an acute team from the local hospital and testing have been critical, according to home manager Patricia Purvis.

She said: “We found a lot of our residents were just off their food for a few days, generally not feeling well.

“In the early stages, we were asking for these people to be swabbed for early detection. I think that has helped a lot.”

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In Northern Ireland, the government statistics are devastating – of 599 deaths, 269 have been in care homes.

Rosemount staff have been motivated by their rate of recovery but they are modest about the courage we witnessed first-hand.

Julie Ann McClure, deputy home manager, said: “I never looked at it like that, that I was putting myself at risk.

“I was coming in to do a job that I had trained to do, that I wanted to do. It’s all I’ve ever done.”

Caitlyn Gates, a senior care assistant, contracted the virus herself but she’s back working with vulnerable residents.

She said: “You love them that much you just want to see them come out the other side. You don’t really think about yourself.

“You just go in and get on with it. These people are my family… and I will do whatever I can to support them. I love them like my own.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Inside the Northern Ireland care home where staff believe they are beating COVID-19