MIDLAND, Texas — Terrace West closed its doors for good on Thursday. The residents and employees were only given 2 days' notice.
Most employees were unable to speak out on the closure, but Gerald Miller, a certified nurse's aide, was not one of those employees.
"The residents have to relocate to another facility, and after such a short time's notice, I think that was very inappropriate. You know we can do better than that. You know you just don’t haul family members out of a building like they’re animals," Miller said.
Miller also said what really bothered him was the fact that the employees of Daybreak Ventures, the company that oversees Terrace West, didn't seem to even care that the residents and employees had to uproot and leave in the blink of an eye.
"Oh, they didn’t care whatsoever. You could tell they wasn’t Christian people because they wouldn’t have never done it like this. This is not the work of Christians. Our job is to care for the old, the younger, the sick, the crippled, the blind, and the disabled. We’re doing Christian work and it’s very bad to be treated like this seeing them being treated like this," Miller said.
One of the other points that really stuck with Miller was the fact that the residents and employees weren't given a reason as to why the facility was shut down. It made it much more difficult for some of the residents to leave.
Miller says that some of them are confused and it hurts them, even more, when they are forced out of their home without any explanation.
Miller also isn't worried about speaking out on this issue when other employees won't.
"I feel grateful for doing this. I’m not afraid of nothing because there’s nothing they can do to me. I can only see what they’ve done to the elderly people. I’ll be 60 next month so I can imagine what they'll try to do with me. I’m not worried," Miller said.