MIDLAND, Texas — Ashton Medical Lodge is trying to stop the spread of COVID-19 in its facility after more than a third of its residents tested positive for the virus.
For Melissa Rawals, whose mother is a resident at the Lodge, she worries administrators are not being transparent enough about what is going on behind closed doors.
She tells us at first they were very forth-coming about the virus and the nursing home, but once COVID-19 started to spike in the Lodge they became tight lipped.
“My mom understands that they’re going through this and she’s not very happy with the situation," Rawls said. "She’s scared.”
34 Ashton residents have been moved to the COVID wings at Midland Medical Lodge and the Traymore in Dallas, all facilities owned by Foursquare Healthcare.
But Rawls learned this information from the news, not Ashton.
“I said I want numbers and they go, well we can't give you that," Rawls said. "I asked why can’t you?!”
Administrators said they were not going to disclose that information.
“I explained I don’t want personal information, I just want numbers," Rawls said. "They told me this on Saturday and then told me they were having a spike."
Rawls was asking what a spike in cases meant, but the administrators would not tell her how many positive cases there were at the Lodge. The outbreak is making Rawls consider moving her mother out the facility.
The Lodge tells us two families have already done so.
“I am looking at potentially doing that but my concerns are what if I am moving her from one fire to the next," Rawls said
We reached out to Ashton Medical Lodge about how they go about sharing information with family members.
They tell us, "We have been updating the primary contact for each resident about the COVID-19 situation during our daily family calls."
Rawls tells us that is not the case.