Texans with loved ones in nursing homes face a painful decision due to coronavirus
For many Texans with loved ones living in a nursing home, assisted living center or other long-term care facility, an agonizing choice looms.
Coronavirus is now quickly spreading through long-term care centers in Dallas-Fort Worth and elsewhere. More than 400 long-term facilities nationwide now have positive tests for COVID-19, according to news reports citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In North Texas, an Arlington nursing home and four Dallas-area senior facilities have incidents of coronavirus. Family members have been told that it’s up to them if they wish to remove relatives from these facilities.
So relatives of residents in these facilities must now decide whether to:
▪ Allow their loved one to stay in the facility, potentially leaving them exposed to the deadly virus — and leaving them possibly isolated since visitors are not allowed at these facilities, and employees must now be dressed in masks, gloves and other protective gear at all times.
▪ Bring them home, where they can have contact with family members, but also could miss out on the critical care they need to survive.
“Maybe you’ve got a two-worker family to make ends meet, but we’re home now,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said during a recent news conference earlier this week, when he disclosed that four senior citizens facilities had coronavirus.
Jenkins, who urged North Texans to remove their family members from long-term care facilities if they have the means, went on to explain that he had discharged his mother from an independent senior living facility about three weeks ago, and was now caring for her at his home.
“I want every family to question — could they care for the person and maybe try to get them home?” Jenkins said.
Even so, bringing a loved one home may not be the best option for many Dallas-Fort Worth families. Here are some factors to consider, based on interviews with experts and publications about the issues.
Is the resident healthy enough to move?
Some residents of long-term care facilities require around-the-clock monitoring for medical conditions, often using expensive equipment.
The CDC isn’t making a blanket recommendation that elderly residents be sent home, Kevin Warren, president and chief executive officer of the Texas Health Care Association, an Austin-based group that advocates for senior care issues.
“While moving residents from these facilities is allowed, many residents require specialized or 24-hour care and even the most well-intentioned loved ones may not be prepared to give them the level of care necessary to avoid complications as well as hospital admissions,” Warren said in an email.
Warren said that about 90,000 people in Texas are residents of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and memory care units. That figure doesn’t include residents of assisted living centers, which provide meals and daily welfare checks of residents, but still allow guests to maintain a measure of independent living.
Does the long-term care resident have dementia?
Many senior citizens with Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of dementia are still able-bodied, but have lost some of their cognitive abilities and could be a danger to themselves.
Memory care units in nursing homes typically provide facilities with automatically locked doors and 24-hour surveillance — something that can be very difficult to replicate at a private residence.
Is the family in a position to provide care at home?
An estimated 4.2 million Texans live in poverty, and may not be able to put nutritious food on the table for a senior citizen. Also, even though many people are able to work at home while self-isolating for coronavirus, millions of other nurses, transit operators, construction workers, restaurant employees and other laborers are still leaving the house everyday to ply their crafts.
In the health care field in particular, many workers may not want to spend day after day working in areas where exposure to the coronavirus is routine, then come home at the end of the shift and expose their elderly loved one to the disease.
Also, many North Texans might have to make significant alterations to their homes to accommodate the day-to-day needs of someone accustomed to living in a long-term care facility, said Tiffany McLennan, managing local ombudsman for Tarrant County United Way Area Agency on Aging.
If a loved one wants to move temporarily, we recommend you consider what living space is available, including privacy,” McLennan said. “That can include making sure they have grab bars in the bathroom — that’s really important — as well as high-rise toilets, hand rails, ramps if needed, along with durable medical equipment such as blood blood pressure monitors, wipes and briefs for residents who wear those.
What does the resident want?
Many seniors who live in long-term care facilities develop close relationships with other residents and employees, and could be emotionally traumatized by an unnecessary removal. The comforts of the long-term care facility may feel like home.
“If they’re been in a place for years and feel like it’s family and they have friends down the hall, then taking them out of that situation and into a place they haven’t been in years — or may have never lived — may not be the right answer,” said Heather Herrington, a physician with Austin Geriatrics Specialists.
More information
In Tarrant County, family members who have questions about whether to remove a loved one from a long-term facility may contact the United Way Area Agency on Aging at 817-258-8102 or 800-252-2412.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
