'Grandma was abused': Woman, 98, returns with horrific bruises from Houston rehab center
HOUSTON, TEXAS: “Nobody wants to go and see their mother like that,” Francis Garcia said about her mother Ramona Rodriguez, 98, who has been under the primary care of Afton Oaks Rehabilitation Center since the last three years. On January 15, Rodriguez's family noticed that she had suffered some bad bruises which the Rehabilitation Center authorities allegedly could not provide a valid explanation.
“I went in and she was facing towards the window, and I got closer to her and I could see all black on her little face,” Garcia said. “They abused her. There’s no doubt about it. You can see it. There’s no way you can’t. You look at those pictures and you can see it,” said Sylvia Poley, Rodriquez’s granddaughter.
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Rodriguez's daughter Garcia said that the establishment's answers about how her mother got the bruises are not quite adding up. “(They said) That she fell. She was sitting watching tv and she just falls?” Garcia asked. Garcia has not yet had the opportunity to communicate properly with her sister who has the power of attorney over their mother's affairs. Because of this, Garcia has also been unable to get a hold of Ramona's medical records and does not yet know the full extent of the elderly woman's injuries. The family of the woman reported that they think the injuries are pretty serious from what they have seen for themselves.
Against Garcia’s wishes, her mother was released from the hospital and sent back to Afton Oaks. Garcia said her mother was left non-verbal since the injuries, and now they are hoping someone else will speak up. Garcia has made it known that she suspects abuse and will wait to get to the bottom of the issue. “Maybe it was somebody who lives there, maybe it was the workers. It was somebody, so there’s got to be cameras. Whatever it is, somebody’s got to know what happened to her,” Garcia stated. The Houston police department is now involved in the incident and Garcia hopes to get power of attorney of her mother soon so that she can relocate her to a different establishment.