North Texas family decides to take their mom out of nursing home after months of no physical contact

North Texas family decides to take their mom out of nursing home after months of no physical contact

Families across North Texas continue to fight for more visitation as some nursing homes and assisted living facilities slowly start to open back up with limited visits.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Families across North Texas continue to fight for more visitation as some nursing homes and assisted living facilities slowly start to open back up with limited visits.

Earlier this month, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission released new guidelines allowing for limited visitation, but no physical contact is allowed, and nursing homes must be COVID-19 free for two weeks, along with other strict guidelines. 

One local family was finally able to see their elderly mother after months of no physical contact.

Even though some facilities are allowing visits, the majority of facilities in Texas still can’t, for various reasons.

After more than five months of no contact, the Beman family made the tough decision to pull their mother out of her nursing home.

Teresa Beman is cherishing the moments with her 80-year-old mother after not being able to see her since March.

Beman’s mother has dementia and was at Wellington Oaks Nursing Home in Fort Worth until last week.

Initially, they were doing visits through a window.

“And imagine going to the zoo. That's what it was almost like, although my mom didn't understand why we couldn't see her touch her. And so she would cry, the entire time, and she kept saying why and she didn't understand,” Beman recalled.

As safety protocols increased, the family was only able to FaceTime a handful of times.

Beman said the lack of contact took a toll on everyone.

“I could see her spirit just diminishing. She actually lost over 60 pounds, and I’m not blaming anybody, I'm just, you know, saying that that and some other things are pretty big effects of them having no family able to come in and save them,” she said.

Though the state recently started allowing limited visitation, Beman said her mother’s facility was not able to give a timeline on when they’d be able to meet those guidelines to grant visits.

“I don't know how much longer I can go on. I don't know how much longer she can go on. It's just the impact on everybody is very life altering,” she said.

Beman eventually made the decision to take her mother home.

A social worker helped them connect with a home healthcare worker to look after her for about 20 hours a week through Medicaid.

According to the Texas Health Care Association, more than 500 assisted living facilities and about 26 nursing homes across Texas have been able to meet the new guidelines and got approval for limited visitation.

The association said that getting enough testing kits and funds to test employees weekly continues to be an issue, and the burden is mostly on the facilities.

“Before they can allow visitation, they have to be able to demonstrate a 14-day period of being COVID-free. So if they weren’t doing regular testing, they had to implement regular testing for two consecutive weeks, demonstrate free, then they could begin visitation,” said Kevin Warren, with the Texas Health Care Association.

As other families wait for updates, Beman said she encourages people to reach out for support and learn what options are available through local organizations.

“I didn't want to have any regrets. And I know now I will have no regrets,” she said. “If anything happens to my mom, I know that, you know, I've done everything possible to make sure she's safe and happy.”

There’s no timeline on when families could see more loosening of the restrictions on visitation.

Even if facilities are able to meet the current guidelines, nursing homes can only do outdoor visits, and no physical contact is allowed.