This is a known fact due to impact of a disaster, and climate change some may have a regional impact to critical infrastructure sectors and require an extensive federal response from FEMA.
The following could occur in your community. Your community in LA, Seattle, D.C., Boston, Chicago, St. Louis. Anywhere in the North America and possible more in our First Nation communities.
Get involved. Ask the questions for ‘What if’ scenarios. What organization is at the table with a voice with DHS, FEMA, and other national and global organizations with a voice for communities at risk (CAR), vulnerable populations, our Black, LatinX, and communities of color in disaster, emergency management, and climate risk management? BEMA International.
BEMA International
BTW: On a special note. Follow the money.
|
Louisiana officials knew of plan to put seniors in warehouse where seven died in 'horrific' conditions during Hurricane Ida: Investigation https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0bukZpUg?s=a99&pd=08Jm5VVO Louisiana Department of Health aware of
plans for nursing homes to use warehouse for evacuation site
By Paul P. Murphy3h CNN
(CNN) — The Louisiana
Department of Health was aware of plans from seven nursing homes to evacuate
their residents to a warehouse in Independence, Louisiana, to shelter during
Hurricane Ida. Seven residents died before state
health officials transported hundreds of people from the warehouse to other
nursing facilities on September 2, five days after the hurricane tore through
the state. Emergency preparedness
plans and surveys from the seven nursing homes obtained by CNN designated the
warehouse as an evacuation site. Those documents also reveal that the seven
facilities planned to evacuate their residents to the warehouse, which had a
listed capacity of 700 beds, despite the nursing homes having more than 1,000
combined licensed beds. Under the Louisiana Department of Health's formal rules, the
nursing homes' emergency preparedness information must be submitted to the
state for annual review by the department, suggesting state health officials
were aware that nursing home administrators intended to move their residents
to the warehouse in the event of an emergency such as Ida. Business licenses and
court documents show that Bob Dean Jr. of Baton Rouge is the owner of all
seven nursing facilities, in addition to the warehouse. By the time the Health Department closed down the warehouse
evacuation site, it was well over its planned capacity by at least 143
evacuees, according to the plans and surveys obtained by CNN through public
records requests to four parish governments. Two nurses described the conditions in the warehouse to CNN as
horrific, saying that in addition to the unsanitary conditions, they also
dealt with supply shortages and electricity cuts. At least 30 calls to 911 from the facility requested emergency
assistance for residents experiencing a variety of medical episodes,
including heart attacks and seizures. Logs of the calls obtained by CNN show
other residents had stopped breathing or were unresponsive. Two lawsuits have since been filed against the nursing homes
and Dean over the warehouse evacuation. Fire Marshall had
only cleared warehouse for storage
Louisiana state regulations require that nursing homes'
emergency plans adhere to minimum licensing standards, in addition to
recommended guidelines outlined in Louisiana's Model Nursing Home Emergency Plan. While the model plan indicates that "business
facilities" can be "converted into shelters in an emergency,"
a company "must have the designated facility" inspected by the
Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness in the parish or the American
Red Cross to "to determine what must be done to make it acceptable as a
shelter." A Louisiana State Fire Marshall inspection report dated
September 1 shows that the building had been cleared only for use as a
"warehouse (storage)," and not as "emergency evacuation
shelters for nursing homes." But in a recent press release from the Louisiana Department of
Health, the department noted that its employees had visited the warehouse
twice prior to landfall, and "it did appear that from a facility
standpoint the minimum necessary components to provide a safe sheltering
environment for a very short period of time were met." According to the department, "there were plans for
staffing, food service and laundry, potable water, portable toilets, and a
working generator appropriately sized for the facility." Gov. John Bel Edwards told CNN on September 2 that 843
residents -- well over the listed 700-bed capacity -- had been moved from the
warehouse. For at least two of the nursing homes, Dean was listed as the
individual responsible for making the decision whether the facility would
shelter in place or evacuate. A letter, signed by Dean and included in some of the surveys,
also laid out how each nursing home would pay his company, Plaquemine Plaza
Holdings, $20,000 a month for access to the warehouse and other facilities as
evacuation sites. In some of the surveys from 2021, the primary function of the
warehouse was listed as the evacuation site for the nursing facilities. Dean did not return CNN requests for comment on the plans
filed with the state. Louisiana state regulations charge the Health Department with
reviewing all nursing home emergency preparedness plans, allowing it to
notify facilities if it decides they do not meet "current minimum
licensing requirements or does not promote the health, safety and welfare of
the nursing facility's residents." Health Department
won't say how nursing homes deviated from plans
Louisiana Department of Health spokesperson Kevin Litten told
CNN the department had revoked the licenses of the seven facilities, which
took place after the attorney general's office opened the investigation. "The owner and administrators of the nursing homes that
evacuated to Independence, Louisiana, failed to execute on the plans that
they set forth in the emergency evacuation plan," Litten told CNN in an
email, saying that it resulted in, "grossly inadequate care." Litten confirmed that, "LDH reviews and confirms
emergency preparedness plans," but would not say whether the department
approved the plan to evacuate to the warehouse or detail how the facilities
failed to carry out their evacuation plans. "Current law allows licensed facilities to evacuate to
unlicensed facilities for a very short period of time," Litten said.
"Now, whether that should change will be part of a larger conversation
many of us will be having in the future. And we hope our internal review of
the event can help inform where we need to go from here." In addition to the Department of Health, the state's health
regulations also require facilities to submit their emergency evacuation
plans to their local parishes, and the regulations say that "any
recommendations by the parish...shall be documented and addressed by the
nursing facility." Edwards' office declined to respond to CNN's questions, and
instead sent along the same statement from the Health Department. Parish governments
rely on Health Department to review, approve plan
New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness Director Collin Arnold told CNN he reviews evacuation plan set
forth by nursing homes, but said it is "cursory to the state's
responsibility." "When I see that they have [an evacuation] location, I'm
relying on the state that there's due diligence on that as well," he
said. Even if Parish officials issue recommendations during their
review, both Arnold and a Jefferson Parish official, Sarah Babcock, told CNN,
the nursing facility is not required to implement any of the recommendations. "At least at the Parish level, there's no teeth in
this," Babcock, the chief administrative assistant in charge of all
things public health and emergency response in Jefferson Parish, told CNN by
phone, saying that she and others can only make suggestions. "The
parishes do not have any oversight or regulatory authority for nursing
homes." In any case, the surveys completed by the seven nursing home
facilities included verifications that their emergency plans were submitted
to their local parish offices and indicated that the local parish offices had
not given any recommendations. Babcock did not remember reviewing the surveys for the nursing
homes but said that the same evacuation facility popping up on multiple plans
would be "a red flag for us." In a press conference on Tuesday, Stephen Russo, Louisiana
Department of Health director of Legal, Audit and Regulatory Affairs, said
that "there is no emergency-preparedness plan that allows for residents
to be kept in such an unsafe, unsanitary, and unhealthy condition." "The lack of
adequate care for these residents is inhumane, and goes against the rules,
regulations, and applicable statutes," Russo continued |
