For over a decade, I’ve worked as a real estate photographer, creating virtual 3D tours for residential properties and commercial businesses. My job has been to capture spaces in a way that allows people to explore them from anywhere—whether they’re across town or across the country. Recently, I began offering virtual tours for senior living facilities, a choice driven by a personal experience that changed my outlook on the importance of accessible, virtual options for families.

In 2020 when COVID-19 swept across the world, my family faced a heartbreaking reality. My parents, who lived in Las Vegas, both tested positive for the virus. While my mother remained asymptomatic, my father’s health declined swiftly, and within ten days, we lost him. During those critical moments, I was hundreds of miles away in Los Angeles, unable to be by his side because of the hospital restrictions in Nevada. The grief of that separation was profound.

Even after my father’s passing, my mother’s journey was far from over. She remained hospitalized for six months because no nursing facilities would accept new patients with COVID at the time. Eventually, after six long months, a facility in Mesquite, Nevada—over an hour from the hospital—finally accepted her. There was hope she could be moved closer to us in Los Angeles after a 30-day stay.

Desperate to find a suitable place nearby, I reached out to every facility I could, but no options were available. After those 30 days, luck was finally on our side; a nursing facility only ten minutes from my home became available. However, it had no website, no virtual tour, and no way for us to see it beforehand. Sight unseen, we made the decision and brought my mother there directly from Mesquite. I wouldn’t say it was a bad place, but it didn’t offer the level of comfort or care I wished for her in her final days.

Losing my parents without having the ability to provide them with the best options fueled my commitment to ensuring other families don’t have to experience the same helplessness. Now, I’ve expanded our virtual tour services to include assisted living, nursing homes, and adult living facilities. These tours allow families to truly see where their loved ones will stay, without needing to travel across the state or country, offering peace of mind and more control over difficult decisions.

This work has become my passion. By helping families get a genuine sense of the spaces available for their loved ones, I hope to provide them with a better experience than I was able to have.

Sincerely,

LaSalle Barnes, Sr.