NORTHAMPTON — A fence installed around the River Valley Rest Home on Pine Street has drawn some attention from city residents in recent days but was put up only as a safety precaution, according to the facility.
“It’s just to keep our residents inside safe,” said Carmen Santiago, the facility’s office manager, adding that the fence is not locked.
“It’s not that they are locked in. It’s not that they are held hostage,” she said of the rest home’s clients. “It’s just until all this is over.”
Some people living at the residential care facility had been leaving, unaware or confused about Gov. Charlie Baker’s stay-at-home advisory, according to Santiago.
The facility has 25 beds and most of its residents have mental health issues, according to the rest home’s website.
Jonathan Flagg, the city’s assistant building commissioner, wrote in an email that the rest home contacted the city for permission to install the fence and that it is never locked.
“The River Valley Rest Home requested permission to install a fence around their property,” he wrote, “to prevent the inhabitants from ‘wandering off’ during the current COVID-19 situation, so as to adhere to the ‘Stay at Home’ recommendation.”