(8 People have been confirmed dead after attack of Hurricane Irma at a nursing home)
After the Hurricane
Irma knocked out air conditioning at a nursing home in Hollywood, Florida, Eight
people were reported dead, police said.
While the cause of
death was not immediately clear, the facility, Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood
Hills, evacuated all its residents to hospitals because of the cooling problem.
Most of the deceased
were treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues,
officials said. Their ages ranged from 71 to 99, the Hollywood Police
Department said at a news conference this evening.
Hollywood Fire Rescue
crews responded to a call at about 3 a.m. today for a patient who was reported
to be in cardiac arrest, and the patient was transported to a hospital, police
said.
At 4 a.m., firefighters
were sent back to the facility to transport a patient reported to be
experiencing breathing problems, police said. After the second call, fire
officials called the state Department of Children and Families to report
concerns about the facility.
A third call later
came in as well, police said. After fire rescue crews arrived, three patients
were found dead on the second floor of the nursing home, and several other
patients were found to be in "varying degrees of medical distress,"
authorities said.
Of the eight deaths,
seven occurred today, and one Tuesday night.
All remaining patients
were removed from the center by 9:15 a.m., after additional rescue units were
called in and a complete evacuation of the facility was ordered, police said.
PHOTO: Hurricane Irma knocks out air
conditioning at the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, Fla.
(WPLG)
Broward County Mayor
Barbara Sharief tonight said the center had contacted the county’s Emergency
Operations Center Tuesday morning to alert the health and medical team that it
had lost power. The incident was then reported as a “mission-critical request”
to Florida Power & Light for power restoration.
Later that day, the
center said it had done a survey of the property and that a tree had landed on
a transformer, Sharief said. When asked by emergency workers whether they had
any medical needs or emergencies, center officials “did not request assistance or
indicate any medical emergency existed,” Sharief said.
Officials said 18
additional patients from an adjoining facility were also relocated because of
the investigation, although those patients were "not medically
compromised."
Dr. Randy Katz,
director of emergency services at Memorial Regional Hospital, which is next to
the nursing home but is not affiliated with it, said there were extremely high
temperatures on the nursing home's second floor.
A person handling air
conditioning for the facility told ABC Fort Lauderdale affiliate WPLG-TV that a
fuse was damaged during Irma, resulting in cooling issues for the past few
days. The facility itself has power, the individual said.
Nursing home
administrator Jorge Carballo said in a statement that the facility was
evacuated this morning "due to a prolonged power failure to the
transformer which powered the facility's air conditioning system as a result of
the hurricane."
"Unfortunately,
early this morning several patients experienced distress and there were three
fatalities at the facility," followed by other fatalities at "the
hospital they were transferred to," Carballo said.
"Facility
administration is cooperating fully with relevant authorities to investigate
the circumstances that led to this unfortunate and tragic outcome. Our hearts
go out to the families and friends of those who were affected," he added.
In a later statement
today , Carballo expressed hcondolences to the family members of the deceased
and provided further details on what transpired at the nursing home.
"The center and
its medical and administrative staff diligently prepared for the impact of
Hurricane Irma,” Carballo said. “We took part in emergency management
preparedness calls with local and state emergency officials, other nursing
homes and health regulators. While our center did not lose power during the
storm, it did lose one transformer that powers the air conditioning unit. The
center immediately contacted Florida Power & Light and continued to follow
up with them for status updates on when repairs would be made. Outreach was
also made to local emergency officials and first responders.”
The center had a
generator on standby "in compliance with state regulations," as well
as seven days of food, water, ice and other supplies, including gas for the
generator, Carballo added. After the air conditioning went down, staff set up
"mobile cooling units and fans to cool the facility," Carballo said.
Staff also "continually checked on residents' well-being" to ensure
they were "hydrated and as comfortable as possible," Carballo said.
"We are
devastated by these losses," Carballo said. "We are fully cooperating
with all authorities and regulators to assess what went wrong and to ensure our
other residents are cared for."
The Florida governor's
office said Department of Health officials were "in contact with Larkin
Community Hospital Behavioral Health Services management and the Rehabilitation
Center at Hollywood Hills over the past three days" and that
"hospital administrators were advised to call 911 if they had any reason
to believe that the health or safety of patients was at risk."
The governor's office
said Tuesday "the facility reported to the AHCA [Agency for Health Care
Administration] that they had power and access to fans and spot coolers."
Police said a criminal
investigation is underway and they are not ruling anything out.
"This was a
terrible incident,” Katz, the director of emergency services at nearby Memorial
Regional Hospital, said. “The scene was chaotic when I arrived. The fact that
it's down the street — you know, we don’t have control over what goes on in
that facility."
Hollywood Mayor Josh
Levy said temperatures have climbed to over 90 degrees in the city and that
half of Hollywood is without power.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement that he was
"heartbroken" to learn of the deaths and he is "going to
aggressively demand answers."
"This situation
is unfathomable," Scott said. "Every facility that is charged with
caring for patients must take every action and precaution to keep their
patients safe, especially patients that are in poor health."
Scott said he has
directed the state Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of
Children and Families to work with law enforcement on an investigation.
"If they find that anyone wasn't acting in the best interests of their
patients, we will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the
governor said.
Scott said he is also
asking available first responders to check with their area health facilities to
make sure nursing homes are keeping their residents safe.
The medical examiner's
office said the victims were: Bobby Owens, 84; Manuel Mario Medieta, 96; Miguel
Antonio Franco, 92; Estella Hendricks, 71; Gail Nova, 71; Carolyn Eatherly, 78;
Betty Hibbard, 84; and Albertina Vega, 99.
Amber Mickles, whose
great-grandmother is a patient at the nursing home, told reporters she believes
her great-grandmother is OK, but she's "trying to see exactly what's going
on because we don't really know."
Mickles said she was
not notified of any air conditioning issues.
"I can't even
take the heat right now from the air conditioning down," she said.
"I'm 29, I can't take it."
"I feel very
sorry for the ones that lost somebody," she added. "I think you
should've had the option to come pick up your family member."
The nursing home has
faced problems in the past. In the past three years, the center has had
multiple citations for health deficiencies, according to the Medicare website.
In addition, a report
from the Agency for Health Care Administration found that the center is in the
bottom 20 percent for inspection, quality of care and dignity.
List of contributors: ABC News' Dan Childs,
Lauren Pearle, Ben Stein and Jason Volack
No comments:
Post a Comment