https://texasscorecard.com/commentary/commentary-stories-from-the-dark-side-of-covid-19/
As a leader in a conservative grassroots organization, people often contact me for advice or direction on an issue or concern. It’s one of the rewarding aspects of volunteer activism.
Recently, a woman contacted me about the suffering she has observed in nursing homes and long-term care facilities as a result of the Chinese coronavirus lockdown policies. She was looking for guidance about who to contact and what could be done to try to turn things around. I advised her to contact the governor (which she had already done numerous times) and state legislators.
However, since it seems the governor is not interested in hearing about it, I also told her to bring the stories out into the public view if she could find a way to do that—let the world know just how bad it is and how our government is holding these people hostage.
As a result of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive orders regarding the COVID-19 virus, residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been virtual prisoners (sometimes confined to their rooms) since mid-March, with no contact with family or anyone outside the facility staff. Even in his most recent Phase III Opening Executive Order issued June 3, Abbott insists that long-term care facilities must still be locked down:
To get started, I posted on Facebook, asking people to send me the stories of their loved ones and friends who are in these facilities—and send them, they did! The stories started pouring in from all over the state.
As I read them, my heart just ached for these people. Many have dementia and don’t understand or remember why their families have disappeared; some feel like they’ve done something wrong to be suddenly abandoned, or that their family just doesn’t care about them anymore. Others are well aware of what’s going on and are helpless to do anything about it.
For most of them, the situation is creating severe depression and worsening whatever conditions they already have. People with mental health issues depend heavily on routines, predictability, and the support of people they know and love. People who need medical care for other reasons thrive and recover faster with positive support from family and friends.
All of that has been lost for them in this COVID-19 nightmare.
Facility staff members do what they can to mitigate the effects of the restrictions, and I’ve learned from the stories that most of the staff are kind, caring people who go out of their way to help.
But staff can never replacea loving family in any way. Staff resources are limited, they are all over-worked, and only families can provide that extra layer of watchfulness and caring that protect these vulnerable patients.
One story I received came from a woman whose husband of 46 years is in a facility because of a brain injury.
“My husband cries all day from loneliness,” she said. “He says he would rather die than stay there.”
She has thought about bringing him home but does not have the resources there to care for him and would lose the Medicaid that covers his care if he returned home.