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Open windows?! How were they supposed to get out of bed in the middle of the night to do that, if they were hooked up to a respirator, or whatever? WHERE WERE THE STAFF??!! Do nursing home staff in Florida routinely abandon their charges all night? Does everyone assume they'll just magically be ok? Anything can happen in the middle of the night, hurricane or no hurricane. Why were they unsupervised? No nurse working the night shift? Really? A resident who encounters difficulty at 3 a.m. is supposed to call the police, instead of the facility's staff? No one on call?
"Great" staffing in a long-term care facility would be 1 nurse for 30 patients, one aid for every ten.. That "awesome" level of staffing gets you 2 whole minutes of a nurse's time every hour! On night shift, during a hurricane, in Florida.. I wouldn't be surprised if the ratio was doubled or tripled. There is no legal limit to how many patients can be assigned to a nurse, except in California. This is how the free market does healthcare. Like I said, this isn't an accident.
This is a tragedy, but why do old people insist on retiring to a disaster-prone tropical-heat hell-hole like Florida? Their kids are always living elsewhere which makes helping them difficult.
It is an interesting question, because Florida really isn't inhabitable without air conditioning, without hurricane precautions, without draining swamps. People talk about Florida like it's a paradise, but it takes a lot of human intervention to be tolerable.
It is an interesting question, because Florida really isn't inhabitable without air conditioning, without hurricane precautions, without draining swamps. People talk about Florida like it's a paradise, but it takes a lot of human intervention to be tolerable.
Yeah, but look at those *taxes* and all that freedom from regulation! Life is certainly shorter without regulation, but at least you're "free!".
"Great" staffing in a long-term care facility would be 1 nurse for 30 patients, one aid for every ten.. That "awesome" level of staffing gets you 2 whole minutes of a nurse's time every hour! On night shift, during a hurricane, in Florida.. I wouldn't be surprised if the ratio was doubled or tripled. There is no legal limit to how many patients can be assigned to a nurse, except in California. This is how the free market does healthcare. Like I said, this isn't an accident.
Yep. And most of the staff is paid near minimum wage. I'll bet the no show rate was tremendous.
This is only going to get worse. Medicaid pays for the majority of nursing home patients. In my state, 25% of the state budget goes to Medicaid and long term care is about a third of that. The Boomers didn't save and most will run out of money. With the huge population spike of elderly that is coming, states are going to run out of money. The level of care in nursing homes that mostly take Medicaid patients is going to get worse and worse.
They may not be transplants from up north. They might not have had any choice where they were going to end up. Not everyone has the luxury of choices. My question is, if hospitals have back-up power sources, why don't nursing/assisted living homes have them as well (the old bottom line perhaps). Nursing homes aren't much different than hospitals on the patient vulnerability scale. I would think state regulations would require them to have some sort of emergency power system. Maybe if this happens often enough, the Tombstone Factor will kick in, and something will get done about it.
You would think so. I mean don't some residents rely on oxygen?
At the very least, the facility could have box fans in supply and as soon as staff members in such situations, notice the temps rising, they could set them up in the most vulnerable places in the building. However, the best move would have been the back-up generator. A working one, that is. Does anyone come and inspect fire extinguishers and fire alarms. At the same, check on AC units/back up generators. That should be mandated if one is in charge. Standard Operating Procedure.
Last edited by cat1116; 09-14-2017 at 07:00 PM..
Reason: Broken? Bad excuse for mgr of a retirement and/or nursing home.
This does not surprise me - this is why I took care of my own Mom - none of these places care an ounce about the old people and many actually abuse them - my best if advice is to off yourself before you become dependent and tortured by others
It is an interesting question, because Florida really isn't inhabitable without air conditioning, without hurricane precautions, without draining swamps. People talk about Florida like it's a paradise, but it takes a lot of human intervention to be tolerable.
In the Summer... Pittsburg needs things like heaters to be habitable in the winter too right?
This story makes me sick. That nursing home is across the street from a hospital I used to work for. AC and good patient care was only a crosswalk away. Absolutely awful.
Were nursing homes not evacuated under the governor's evacuation orders? Or is this just a one off mishap.
The Governor in Florida doesn't control evacuations, each county does. And Florida doesn't have a Mandatory Medical Evacuation like South Carolina does. Every state is different as to who makes evacuation decisions.
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