Everyone likes to feel special. On Friday, about a dozen senior citizens at The Village of the Incarnate Word didn’t just feel special — they felt like royalty, and got the crowns to match.

After failed attempts in 2021 and 2023, southeast Texas lawmakers have filed bills to require generators in nursing homes and assisted living centers.

Officials hope state lawmakers will boost the budget of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman office, an independent state agency, which can often be an elderly Texan’s only lifeline to the outside world.

There’s no Texas requirement that nursing homes and assisted living facilities keep generators on hand to power air conditioning after storms.

There are 3.5 million Texans who are caregivers for a sick or elderly family member, and many of them feel alone. Solutionaries is showing how many things these caregivers have in common, and revealing the many resources already out there. The caregivers themselves explain what more needs to be done.

Texas’ nursing home staff vaccination rates are lower than half the country’s — but a judge’s decision last week to delay a vaccine mandate helped them avoid laying off a third of their employees.

Early in the pandemic, visitations at nursing homes and assisted living facilities were banned to protect the people inside, and now, Texas voters have the chance to not allow that to happen again.

About 40% of Texas nursing home workers are unvaccinated and could face dismissal or quit their jobs under a federal vaccination requirement for the industry.

Texas ranks 46th nationally for vaccinated nursing home residents and 33rd for vaccinated nursing home staff.

Rafael Armendariz's daughters spoke with the KSAT 12 Defenders about their father's death late last year. Rafael Armendariz avoided contracting COVID-19 until early November 2020. Around 3:08 a.m., the footage shows that Rafael Armendariz lifted his blanket above his head while the other cannula remained in place. Within 30 minutes, Rafael Armendariz’s breathing becomes noticeably labored, according to the video. Rafael Armendariz was pronounced dead at 5:28 a.m., according to his death certificate.

Greg Abbott announced Thursday that visitations can resume at nursing homes throughout most of the state under new guidance. Under the new rules, laid out on the state’s website, residents can designate up to two essential family caregivers who can visit the facility. Depending on the facility, it can offer outdoor visits, open window visits or indoor visitation with the use of plexiglass safety barriers. In these visits, physical contact is not permitted. For more information on Abbott’s announcement, visit the state website.

SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Health and Human Services Commission on Thursday released a 460-page report detailing complaints against Southeast Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, where COVID-19 ran rampant among residents and staff in April. The partially redacted records were released in response to a records request filed by the KSAT 12 Defenders in July. According to state figures, a total of 17 employees and 77 residents were infected with COVID-19 at the nursing home, the site of San Antonio’s first outbreak of the deadly virus. Four of the staff members, who had pending COVID-19 tests, were still working in the facility. Staff members who tested positive for COVID-19 were supposed to self-isolate at home.

FLORESVILLE, Texas – A Floresville social worker is being remembered for her passion for helping nursing home residents after dying from COVID-19 complications. Peeler had been a social worker for more than 25 years, and she spent most of that time caring for residents at different nursing homes. Felan hopes to carry on her mother’s legacy as a social worker. “I wish I could be half the social worker that she was, and I strive to do that. Felan said she chooses to remember her mother as a woman who dedicated her life to others.

By June 11, Texas had completed an initial, month-long round of mandatory testing in all Texas nursing facilities. The ability to reopen nursing homes — which have been closed to visitors since mid-March — depends on it, Lutzel said. Last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services committed to sending testing devices to nursing homes. But with more than 1,200 nursing homes and 2,000 assisted-living facilities in Texas, 57 devices are “not nearly enough,” Tran said. Warren said nursing homes “are doing everything they know to do to fight a virus we don’t see.”

AUSTIN COVID-19 point-of-care testing will be provided for assisted living facilities and nursing homes throughout the state. Greg Abbott made the announcement Friday that Omnicare, a CVS Health company, is partnering with the state of Texas to provide the testing. This partnership with Omnicare and CVS Health will increase COVID-19 testing in our assisted living facilities and nursing homes and help us protect vulnerable Texans from COVID-19, Abbott said in a released statement. Testing in assisted living facilities began Thursday. State testing teams completed testing of all nursing home staff and residents in June at the direction of Abbott, according to the release.

NEW BRAUNFELS – An outside medical professional who provides services to residents at EdenHill Communities in New Braunfels tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the nursing home confirmed on Monday. The positive diagnosis came after EdenHill tested all nursing home residents, staff and outside medical professionals as part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s mandate on testing all nursing home communities in the state. The tests were recently conducted by the New Braunfels Fire Department. New Braunfels Fire Department to begin conducting COVID-19 tests at nursing homesThe provider who tested positive was in contact with four nursing home residents, five assisted living residents and “several” staff members, according to the nursing home’s news release. “In an overabundance of caution we are isolating these residents and requiring the staff who may have been exposed to the positive individual to isolate at home,” nursing home officials said.

Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced that he will have the Texas National Guard help to disinfect nursing homes to reduce the spread of COVID-19, per a press release. The disinfection teams will work in conjunction with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and will provide a boost to protecting Texans. “The Texas National Guard plays a crucial role in our ongoing response to COVID-19, and I am grateful for their work to address the unique challenges our nursing homes face during this pandemic,” Abbott said. “The Texas National Guard readily accepts this newest mission assignment,” said Major General Tracy Norris. We stand ready to continue to serve both here at home and abroad in the war fight.”The Texas National Guard was already providing personal protective equipment manufacturing support, food bank support, mobile COVID-19 testing, and points of distribution for essential items, the press release said.

The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District released new information about 39 COVID-19 cases from four Bexar County nursing homes. If you need help with the Public File, call 210-351-1241.

It was not clear if that figure included testing performed at nursing homes with no positive cases. ORIGINALThe San Antonio Metropolitan Health District released new information about 39 COVID-19 cases from four Bexar County nursing homes. According to a city news release Tuesday afternoon, 23 residents and 16 staff members have tested positive between the four locations. San Antonio officials release information about coronavirus cases at nursing homes. Eight others are from The Rio, and the other nine are from other nursing homes or hospitals in San Antonio, Blake said.

SAN ANTONIO – While stressing that the state’s approach has been “very cautious,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott told KSAT 12 News that a new round of announcements on reopening businesses will come on Monday. San Antonio doctors warn of possible ‘COVID cliff’ for patients recovering from virusWhen asked about the feedback he’s received since opening businesses, Abbott said all his plans are vetted by four doctors on his task force to make sure businesses can reopen safely. Some medical experts have expressed their concerns with how quickly states are reopening. Texas has to curb the COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons, nursing homes and meatpacking plants, Abbott said, and parents need to be able to put their children in daycare. We’ve got to find a way to do it, but safely.”Abbott said his team has been working with doctors and childcare provider experts to come up with a plan on how to reopen daycares.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio city officials on Friday announced a plan to potentially house COVID-19 patients from nursing homes in the region at two long-term care facilities in an effort to try mitigate the spread of the virus. City officials confirmed patients from both locations have already been moved to other facilities in the area to make room for potential patients. The expo hall late last month was prepped as an alternative care center if San Antonio hospitals become full. The Texas Tribune reported Friday that 13% of nursing home facilities in the state have at least one resident with COVID-19. Nursing home with 70+ COVID-19 patients fined $68,000, cited for 28 violations in 2019