Day eighty-seven of my forced exile from Cherry’s nursing home and I soothed my soul a little by attending Mass this morning in person at Our Lady Of Czestochowa in Spring Branch.
I am exhausted from a busy week of trying to fight the injustice that has and still is being done to the helpless people in our nations nursing homes. Is being exiled with no end in sight from your family, your spouse, your children and your friends really worth the pain and suffering that it is causing?
Are the hired help, the nurses, the aids, the housekeepers, the maintenance staff, the vendors, the outside craftsmen and all of the other essential personnel that are freely allowed in the nursing homes really more essential than the touch and the closeness of the loved ones that you have spent the best part of your life with? Is there really any logic in thinking that a family member is somehow more likely to spread the virus than any of those essential people?
There has to be a way to safely allow visits from family and friends for our nursing home residents. If they can figure out how to safely get the ac repairman in the building, surely they can figure out a system to safely allow family members in.
I spent most of the last week on the phone, talking to staff members of all of my elected officials, talking to corporate representatives of Cherry’s nursing home, talking to the HHSC and CDC people, talking to the nursing home ombudsmen, talking to anyone who answers the phone and leaving messages to those that don’t.
With the exception of the rude people at HHSC and CDC, everybody was sympathetic and said they understand my point of view. However, I still haven’t received any real answers about why nursing homes are at the end of the line and almost forgotten by the phased reopening of our country.
Nursing homes got a single paragraph on page 4 or the governor’s newest 5 page executive order, sort of an afterthought. Even though the governor seems to have given HHSC complete control of the rules for nursing homes, I couldn’t find anyone at HHSC who knows anything about the order.
“People shall not visit nursing homes, state supported living centers, assisted living facilities, or long-term care facilities unless as determined through guidance from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC).”
Staff members from Ted Cruz, Dan Crenshaw and John Whitmire’s office have called me back and offered to do what they can to help me. They, like everyone else, have very little real information on this issue but at least they have agreed to research it and let me know.
I’ll keep hammering on anyone who will listen but I’m just one small fish in a big ocean of bureaucracy. Please pray for our nursing home residents who are suffering far more than the general population.