If you have a loved one in a nursing home or a long-term care facility, it’s probably been about four months since you’ve seen or spoken to them. How are you, and how do you feel about this lockdown? On today’s show, Carrie Miller talks about the unfortunate reality about there being no plan to open up or allow visitation of any kind anytime soon due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly in Texas, which doesn’t have a good reputation for strict regulations and long-term care homes, it’s best to check in on your loved ones every once in a while. If you have any concerns or complaints about long-term care providers in Texas, you will find this episode helpful as Carrie provides some information on who to contact or direct your questions to.

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Listen to the podcast here:

The Need To Protect The Elderly During COVID

I’m going to start by asking a sensitive question. If you have a loved one in a nursing home or a long-term care facility, it’s probably been quite some time since you’ve seen or spoken to them. How are you? How are you feeling about this lockdown? I understand where you’re coming from because my momma is behind closed doors in a home in Houston, Texas. My daddy visits her through a glass door almost every day and he longs for the day like you to see your loved one again. You might even be frustrated. Maybe you’re waiting like we are here on your governor to give you a thumbs up and to let you know that they’re working on a plan to open up or allow some kind of visitation so that you feel good about leaving your loved one in that home.

Let me give you a little insight. There has been no plan to open up or allow visitation of any kind to my knowledge. You say, “Carrie, are you talking no accountability?” That’s right. In the great state of Texas, we don’t take kindly to this no accountability behind these closed doors. We all understand this virus and how vulnerable our elderly is, but for some reason, Texas doesn’t have a good reputation when it comes to strict regulations and long-term care homes. Why is that? Texas is refusing to release the names of long-term care facilities where residents have died from COVID because of a State Medical Privacy Law passed in 2001.

We know that there have been more than 300 deaths in these facilities. More than 40% of the state’s Coronaviruses are linked to long-term care facilities according to an analysis of government data. Yet, health authorities have refused to name sites with known cases or even revealed the total number of infections across all centers. You can’t tell us which centers and where are they? That’s a problem, Texas. Why is there no accountability, Governor Abbott? When our family makes a call, say to mama’s home to ask if anyone has gotten COVID, the response makes sense. It’s always, “No. Everything’s good here.” Is it really? We have no way of knowing. No way of holding anyone accountable for their lies as they continue to hide behind the law.

Let me get this straight. You the customer, pays a so-called reputable company exorbitant amounts of money a month for your loved one to be cared for. Not cared just for, but cared for to the best of their ability. Yet, when you call to ask any question, you’re given the runaround and lied to. Does that make any sense to you at all? It is downright inexcusable. When we ask a question about our loved one and locked down behind closed doors, we want answers. We want callbacks. That is the professional way of doing business. Let’s get back to opening the doors with maybe some caution. Governor Abbott can hold large meetings in his big conference rooms with no masks and no social distancing. The pictures are all over the internet.

Long-term care facilities can have a revolving door of caregivers who go home to their family members ...