Lori Vanessa and her grandmother Doris,
wisely share a special bond.
She raised Lori after her
mother died. Since March,
they've been kept apart with their
98 year old grandmother confined to a
room at Carrara, a Plano nursing home
and rehabilitation center.
This is the longest I've ever been
apart from my grandmother since
I was born. While dropping off
items for her grandmother,
Lori says she was shocked to learn
the facility. Plan to take in
COVID-19 positive hospital patients.
I was appalled, absolutely horrified,
and this is just unacceptable that the
government is allowing this to happen.
Statewide it's unknown how many nursing
homes are admitting COVID-19 patients.
But when WFA tried to find out
how many nursing homes actually
take in COVID-19 patients,
we discovered something we think
you should know the state of Texas
does not require nursing homes to
report that they accept COVID-19
positive patients from hospitals.
In a statement,
Health and Human services officials told
us there is not a specific requirement
for nursing facilities to report.
Whether they're accepting
COVID-19 patients from hospitals,
when we began looking for nursing homes
that had designated COVID-19 wings,
state and County officials confirmed
there are more than two dozen facilities
in North Texas and at least nine of
those facilities received a one or two
star overall rating out of a possible
five stars by federal regulators.
That means those nursing homes
were considered below average
or much below average,
based on a federal review of staffing,
quality control and health inspections.
So we looked up Carrara,
the facility where Lori's grandmother lives.
It has a five star or much
above average rating.
I'm sure there
are facilities that could pull this off.
There they are well funded there,
well staffed there,
well trained and those should
be the ones who are identified
by the state as facilities that
should be doing this attorney.
JT Bora specializes
in nursing home abuse and neglect cases.
He's concerned Texas regulators failed
to proactively review the track record
of nursing homes for quality and
infectious disease controls prior to
being allowed to open COVID-19 wings.
But just letting anyone or any facility
do it, who simply wants to do it
without demonstrating inability to
properly care and contain the virus.
Is irresponsible? Back in late
March, New York Governor Andrew Como was
criticized after he issued a directive
ordering nursing homes to accept medically
stable COVID-19 positive patients.
Como's directive cited an urgent need to
expand hospital capacity under pressure,
Como reversed course. During
this press conference, six weeks later,
hospitals going forward cannot discharge
a patient to a nursing home unless the
patient tests negative for COVID-19 In
a statement of Texas Department
of Health and Human Services,
official told us.
In order for a nursing facility to be a
designated COVID-19 facility or offer,
a dedicated COVID-19 wing,
that facility needs to be able to
cohort or separately group residents
effectively have sufficient staffing and
sufficient personal protective equipment.
Texas still ranks the worst of
the country when it comes to overall
quality and safety for nursing homes.
It just hands down it does. Firmer
nursing home regulator Brian Lee
is largely correct with Texas.
At or near the bottom and reviews
ranging from care.com and Becker's
Hospital Review to Forbes and
Baylor University reports,
they need to get their arms around this.
They need to get involved
like right now. Texas Health
Care Association CEO Kevin
Warren disagrees with Brian Lee.
I mean, you're talking about
a profession that's one of the most highly
regulated professions in the country. He
says. Providers are stepping up to
help the communities they serve. This
is the type of step that facilities are
willing to take in order to be partners
in the community and help fight against
Covid that is affecting everybody.
Carrara where Lori's grandmother lives is
owned by Cantex Continuing Care Network.
The company also operates a COVID-19 unit at
its Windsor Gardens facility in Lancaster.
Robin Underhill, the company CEO,
said in a statement Cantex continuing
care network rose to the challenge when
our community needed us to serve patients
their loved ones in the larger Dallas area.
The company says both facilities
each accepted more than 40 COVID-19
patients in August.
The company also said these units
have protective doors.
And only staff working in the
unit are permitted to enter.
Those staff do not enter or interact
with other parts of the facility.
Last month,
state officials announced that limited
visits would be allowed at long term
care facilities with no COVID-19 cases,
but state regulators confirmed that
any facility taking in new COVID-19
patients cannot allow visits.
So for Lori,
that means she still can't
see her grandma anytime soon.
I've just scared to death.
That it is a death sentence and the only
way I'll be able to see her right now
is if she's actively dying in Dallas.
I'm Tonya iser.