KERRVILLE, Texas — Vulnerable seniors at Waterside Nursing and Rehabilitation have been living in freezing conditions for days, according to a staff member and resident.
Both feared retaliation and asked KENS 5 not to publicly identify them.
The employee said the heating system stopped working in a portion of the Kerrville nursing facility on Saturday.
“We were told to put blankets on them,” said the worker. “I know you can see your breath back in the men’s unit. I don’t know exactly what the temperature was, but I know today the state gentleman said it was 40 degrees. I took an oath to take care of these people, they are like my grandparents. So, it hurts me dearly to see this happen.”
According to the staff member, nearly 50 residents were directly impacted. We’re told they are all over the age of 70 and many are Alzheimer’s patients.
The employee said residents slept in “uncomfortably cold conditions” until a state inspector showed up on Monday. The worker claims heaters were brought in on Tuesday, and impacted residents were moved to other parts of the facility.
“It was pretty miserable,” said a resident. “Almost as brutally cold as it was outside. They just now moved people. There are these two huge heaters attached to the ceiling in the hall that’s without heat. That’s all they’ve done. It's still cold.”
The employee and resident say the nursing home was not prepared. With another chill expected over the weekend, they hope the heating system is fixed soon.
“I have Alzheimer’s in my family,” said the worker. “If my mother went through that, I would have pulled her out. It’s not okay, it’s not okay at all.”
Trinity Healthcare operates this nursing home. KENS 5 was able to reach the Chief Executive Officer over the phone. We were told the company would respond to a list of emailed questions, but as of this publication, we have not received a response.
On Thursday, we received this statement from a spokesperson for Trinity Healthcare:
"Last weekend, our facility had two out of ten HVAC units go down due to the freeze and repairs were ordered immediately. Residents in this area of the facility have options to move to another room while these repairs occur. For those that have chosen to stay in their current room, temporary heaters have been put into place to keep them comfortable while these repairs are completed. There have been no disruptions to the power service and backup generators are onsite in the case of an emergency."