Leaders vow change at roundtable on nursing home storm response
DELRAY BEACH — A brainstorming session to improve conditions in elder-care facilities after hurricanes knock out electricity offered a range of ideas Thursday — from battery-powered fans to generators capable of powering air conditioners.
The emergency roundtable, hosted by state Rep. Emily Slosberg, also highlighted problems experienced by many senior citizens in the week after Hurricane Irma knocked out power in Palm Beach County.
After two hours, all 32 participants pledged to work with one another and with state legislators to avoid a repeat of the tragedy in Hollywood Hills nursing home in Broward County, where 11 residents died because of hot temperatures.
“You see this happen in Hollywood, but in reality it can happen everywhere,” said Dr. Michael Block, a geriatric internist.
“I would like to use this tragedy to shine some light, some geriatric awareness light, globally to make living conditions better. It starts with the culture at these communities and beyond.”
While many elder-care facilities in Palm Beach County had
successful hurricane plans, others did not.
“I have to be completely frank and honest with you that I am extremely disappointed that we are having this conversation today, 21/2 weeks after a nearly catastrophic storm impacted the state of Florida,” said Bill Johnson, director of the Palm Beach County Emergency Operations Center.
“We should have been having this conversation two years ago. That’s the message we all need to take home with us.”
He encouraged all eldercare facilities to train staff and hold drills throughout the year on their hurricane plans, not just during hurricane season.
“We wouldn’t be in this situation today, having this conversation, if people truly did that level of planning and that emphasis on planning,” Johnson said.
Some facilities had evacuation plans that called for residents to be removed from unheated buildings by private ambulance companies. But “there was nowhere to place these folks,” said Anthony Terzo with American Medical Response.
Palm Beach County’s special needs shelters were swamped with elderly residents arriving from hospitals and facilities just hours before the storm hit South Florida.
“Special needs shelters are not dumping grounds for our health care community,” Johnson said. He said the county asks elder-care facilities to register with the shelters throughout the year, but “80 percent came and registered at the last minute.”
Kim Broom of the Florida Health Care Association said she was concerned about the ability of nursing homes and assisted living facilities to meet a timetable under new emergency rules requiring generators capable of cooling a building for at least four days after power is knocked out.
Gov. Rick Scott directed the Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Elder Affairs to issue the rules after eight residents of The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills died Sept. 13. Three more died later.
The Broward County facility’s air-conditioning system was knocked out Sept. 10 by Hurricane Irma, but residents remained in the sweltering 152-bed home until the deaths and a resulting evacuation.
Several Palm Beach County senior facilities had problems with air conditioning, forcing elderly residents to swelter in uncomfortable conditions until power was restored.
Under the emergency rules, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities have 45 days to submit plans that would involve acquiring generators to ensure temperatures could be maintained at 80 degrees or cooler for 96 hours after losing electricity. Nursing homes and assisted-living facilities would have to carry out the plans within 60 days.
“This is a challenge,” said Broom, who moderated the roundtable. “As much as we support what the governor has set forth, the time frame to establish it is simply not achievable in every case.”
She said the rules allow waivers, but she encouraged all facilities to do their best to comply.
While there were no complaints about the rules from representatives for assistedliving facilities who attended the meeting, some said it will be expensive to comply.
A simple suggestion by one senior citizen prompted the loudest applause at the roundtable.
Seymour Grebow, who lives in the Grand Villa West senior living complex in Delray Beach, called for eldercare facilities to invest in supplies of battery-operated fans.
“We had no power for over 300 residents for five days,” he said. “The majority of our residents were ready to collapse. They could not handle it anymore. A fan operated by batteries would be a huge life saver.’’