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Victoria

Intrepid Sojourner
Bold Member!
Police are investigating what led to the deaths of six people in a sweltering hot Florida nursing home left powerless by Hurricane Irma.

Authorities were called to the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills early Wednesday where they found a scene so horrific, a hospital just down the street from the nursing home declared it a mass casualty incident.

Three people were found dead inside the facility, while three others were declared dead at the hospital, Hollywood Police Chief Tomas Sanchez said at a news conference.

Emergency personnel rushed a total of 115 people to safety from inside the "extremely hot" nursing home, Sanchez said.

"Right now, this is a criminal investigation," the police chief added. "Our investigation has revealed that it was extremely hot on the second floor of the facility."

It was not clear which floor of the nursing home residents were on when authorities reached them, or how long it took for police to get there. City officials initially said police responded to a call from the facility shortly after 4 a.m. ET, while Sanchez said officers did not get there until receiving a call after 6 a.m. ET.

Officials were trying to nail down "when the call actually came out," he said.

The victims' identities were not immediately made public. Their deaths were believed to be heat-related.

Dr. Randy Katz, medical director for emergency services at Memorial Healthcare System, which has a hospital down the block from the nursing home, said there were at least a dozen patients still hospitalized.

"Most of the patients have been treated for respiratory distress, dehydration and heat-related issues," Katz said, adding that the death toll could "potentially" rise.

Katz said so many patients needed assistance at the nursing home that his hospital activated a mass casualty incident, mobilizing more than 50 health care providers to help with evacuations and treatment.

"This was a terrible incident. The scene was chaotic when I arrived," he said. "I've definitely seen mass casualties and things to that extent, but this is something unique, something extremely sad and unfortunate for these patients and their families."

Police would not comment on whether the nursing home had a generator or whether investigators had ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning as a contributing factor. The building was sealed off as investigators from the Hollywood Police Department, along with the Florida Attorney General's office, began their probe.

A nursing home employee told NBC Miami that the building was cool as of Tuesday, but that he returned Wednesday morning to an overheated facility.

The nursing home, located about 20 miles north of Miami, has been in the dark since Irma struck over the weekend, officials said earlier Wednesday.

Temperatures in South Florida this week have been in the 80s, and the low in Hollywood on Tuesday was 79 degrees.

Irma cut power to millions of Floridians and killed more than 54 people across the Caribbean and southeastern United States as it rampaged across the Atlantic. As of Wednesday, nearly 60 percent of customers had electricity restored, according to Florida Power & Light.

Sharief said she had asked the utility company to prioritize getting power back for assisted living, nursing home and senior care centers.

As a precaution, officials were checking on all of the other 42 assisted living facilities in Hollywood on Wednesday, NBC Miami reported.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/h...rsing-home-after-irma-cut-power-mayor-n800931
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If there was a Hospital that close by... why didn't they evacuate the residents at the nursing home facility to the Hospital?

This is just so tragic.
 
would like to know what the so called caregivers were using as I am sure they weren't subjected to the same a full shift, this doesn't happen overnight and they should have gotten them out of there when they lost electric or within 24 hrs of such if they didn't have working generators
 
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What the fuck did we do for the tens of thousands of years before we used electricity or air conditioning? How about go the fuck outside and sit under some shade?
 
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8 now known dead from facility.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...florida-nursing-home-without-power-after-irma

There are some conflicting details about exactly how much power the building lost. Jon reports: "As of yesterday, [the facility] was reporting that everything was OK, that they were using portable air conditioners and fans." Then, police responded to a 911 call and found three people dead and others in struggling health.

Sanchez declined to say exactly how hot it was in the building when authorities arrived, simply saying: "I can tell you it was very hot on the second floor." He also would not state how long and how much of the building was without power, saying it was part of the criminal investigation.
 
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About 35 years ago some brainiacs managed to really lighten the restrictions on these homes no doubt with lining some serious pockets and it took everything a couple of decades ago to fight and get regulations and laws back up to any type of standard. People live alot longer than they used to the environment is different now if not controlled and whose to say which level of care these people were suppose to be in as there are basically 5 different levels usually top rounded to 3 but 5. These individuals were probably in one of the end stages where they were unable to do much for themselves and the people there obviously were looking out for themselves not them. Added to that the trauma and fear of what was going on would have added to it
 
What the fuck did we do for the tens of thousands of years before we used electricity or air conditioning? How about go the fuck outside and sit under some shade?

We died young :p
 
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What the fuck did we do for the tens of thousands of years before we used electricity or air conditioning? How about go the fuck outside and sit under some shade?

People didn't live to be so old back then so it's kind of comparing apples and oranges.
 
There is a mistaken belief that people rarely lived to be in their 60s, 70s and older in the past, because of the way statistical data is presented. Childhood was a dangerous time, but if one made it through childhood one had a good chance to reach the ages we do today, as long as they remained healthy and active. The difference today is we extend the lives of people way pass their bodies ability to care for itself, so as soon as even the slightest environmental factor is taken awhile they cease to be.

https://gcanyon.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/life-expectancy-in-the-1800s-not-as-bad-as-reported/
 
I have a stinking suspicion that something other than a broken generator is at work here. I have a feeling that those in charge could care less about old folks.
Sadly this is typical for nursing homes. They are forgotten and treated worse then animals. So horrible to live your life only to end up like these poor folks.
 
Retire to Arizona.
Sure it has heat,
but it's a dry heat.

Plus no hurricanes and tropical storm bull to contend with.
Give me a place away from earthquakes, flooding, all that natural disaster garbage.
Someplace I can have 4 distinct seasons, topless women in public is nice and legal
with no Trump.
God I love Southern Ontario!
 
-Who truly was responsible? The nursing home says it contacted Florida Power & Light immediately when it lost power to its air conditioning. The county says FPL refused to speed up its response to senior living facilities. And FPL said the county never listed nursing homes as critical facilities in power outages.

FPL spokesman Ron Gould said nursing homes are not defined as critical facilities in the plan the county gives FPL for restoring power - meaning they are not the first to have power restored.

"We met with Broward in early March. This facility was not listed as a top-tier critical infrastructure facility," he said.

Regulators do not require nursing homes like Hollywood Hills to have generators. In Florida, nursing homes can comply with licensing regulations as long as they have "alternate forms of power," said Kristen Knapp, spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association. That could include battery-operated fans, she said.

(yeah a fan is gonna do it when you're 99yo and it 115 degrees )


New federal nursing home regulations that will go into effect in November mandate, among other things, that safe indoor temperatures be maintained during power outages. But the rules - which come 12 years after 35 elderly people died in a New Orleans-area nursing home during Hurricane Katrina - also fail to specifically require generators.

From @Victoria's link
 
If I am unfortunate enough to ever live in a nursing home and I saw my death approaching, even from a hurricane, I would be that old guy from Waterworld.

 
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What the fuck did we do for the tens of thousands of years before we used electricity or air conditioning? How about go the fuck outside and sit under some shade?

We died! Look around the world, people still die every year from heat related deaths, even young people. Healthy people can die from heat because it isn't something you can just exercise away. When your core gets to be too hot, if you can't cool it down you are royally fucked. I have an ex who got heat stroke OUTSIDE one summer. It was just that hot and he was in an area with no shade.
 
kay, they never lost power but they had their air conditioner on [for the residents?] with a generator that did. ANy kinda competent person would have contacted someone higher and if they were real about doing anything positive contacted someone else for help if higher didn't work as it won't a lot of times in these facilities. I will go on later about heat stroke core body temps and meds but first, they've lost their license to take anyone in with Fla medicaid which is major as far as how bad they are after an inspection:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...ign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170914
The shocking news that eight people who were residents of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, Fla., died at the facility in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma has sparked many questions about how such a thing could happen. It has also led to nearly 150 patients being taken to local hospitals.

"The Hollywood Police Department has been granted a search warrant for this property," Raelin Storey, the city's public affairs director, said at a news conference outside the nursing home Thursday morning.

Friday afternoon, the state's Agency for Health Care Administration said conditions at the facility present a threat to the safety of residents and it suspended the nursing home indefinitely from taking patients paid for by Florida Medicaid.

Others investigating include Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Children and Families. No arrests have been made in the criminal probe, according to police in the city just north of Miami.

Officials initially said as many as 158 people had been moved from the center; on Thursday, police clarified that 145 patients were sent to Memorial Regional Hospital — 141 from the center and four from an adjoining facility.

Outlining the center's preparations for Hurricane Irma, which struck Florida with a storm surge, heavy rains and high winds on Sunday, administrator Jorge Carballo said:

"In compliance with state regulations, the Center did have a generator on standby in the event it would be needed to power life safety systems. The Center also had seven days of food, water, ice and other supplies, including gas for the generator."

Detailing the problems identified this week by the Agency for Health Care Administration, member station WLRN reports, "In its complaint, the healthcare agency said that on Sept. 10 the rehab center 'became aware that its air conditioning equipment had ceased to operate effectively.' ... But between 1:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday, 'several residents suffered respiratory arrest or cardiac distress,' the complaint said."

WLRN says the Rehabilitation Center had a history of poor performance in state regulators' inspections.

Scrutiny has also settled on the nursing home's owner, Dr. Jack Michel. The Sun-Sentinel reports that Michel "has history of fraud charges."

Summarizing a high-profile federal and state health care case against Michel, the newspaper says:

"Dr. Jack Michel in 2006 settled claims after he and five others were accused of agreeing to send patients to his Miami hospital, Larkin Community, for unnecessary treatment, according to the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors said that Michel received kickbacks as part of the deal and that some of the patients came from assisted living facilities that he owned."

That 2006 case involved a $15.4 million settlement. Along with Michel, the Justice Department named Philip Esformes — whose name arose again last summer, when he was indicted after federal prosecutors accused him of leading "a complex and profitable health care fraud scheme that resulted in staggering losses — in excess of $1 billion."

Larkin Community Hospital, which Michel still owns, is also part of the current story. Police say that the 145 patients who were sent to Memorial Regional Hospital include four from Larkin Community Hospital Behavioral Health Services — a facility that shares a building with the Rehabilitation Center.

In Broward County, more than 212,000 electricity accounts were without power Thursday morning, state officials said.

With millions of people in Florida still lacking power, officials are urging those who need a break from the heat to visit cooling centers and drink water.

The city of Hollywood got a bit of good news on Thursday, as officials lifted a mandatory boil-water notice that had been instituted on Sunday. The move came after workers repaired three water main breaks.
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We died! Look around the world, people still die every year from heat related deaths, even young people. Healthy people can die from heat because it isn't something you can just exercise away. When your core gets to be too hot, if you can't cool it down you are royally fucked. I have an ex who got heat stroke OUTSIDE one summer. It was just that hot and he was in an area with no shade.
so agreed: I had extreme heat stroke about 8 years ago because I was in a compromised situation and thought I could take it until dealing with it, I was wrong, I am now sensitive to heat though I have been around heat all my life in that past being able to take it a lot better than most
 
9th patient has died, nursing home's license has been suspended.


http://wfla.com/2017/09/20/florida-suspends-license-of-nursing-home-over-irma-deaths/


Florida officials have suspended the license of a nursing home that had nine patients die after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air conditioning.

The Agency for Health Care Administration said Wednesday that it suspended the license of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills.

The agency previously banned the facility from admitting new patients and from receiving Medicaid. The home filed a lawsuit trying to block those orders.

Eight patients died Sept. 13, three days after Irma hit South Florida and knocked out a transformer that powered the home’s air conditioner. A ninth died Tuesday.
 
This quote.

"In compliance with state regulations, the Center did have a generator on standby in the event it would be needed to power life safety systems. The Center also had seven days of food, water, ice and other supplies, including gas for the generator."

So WTF?
 
I'm thinking I read that the generator was not powerful enough to do all it needed to do, power the lights, the necessary medical machines, and the air conditioner. So I guess they thought the air conditioner was the one that was not as essential as the others.
 
I'm thinking I read that the generator was not powerful enough to do all it needed to do, power the lights, the necessary medical machines, and the air conditioner. So I guess they thought the air conditioner was the one that was not as essential as the others.
Well, I guess that helps, but why was an inadequate generator deemed sufficient?
 
I'm guessing they didn't believe it was going to get as bad as it did. It could also be they just cheaped out on the generator, not realizing it wasn't what they needed.

A case of hindsight is 20/20, "if I'd have known that was going to happened I'd have prepared better".

And, too, I think it's just a case of a shitty nursing home management never thinking that they'd be caught treating these poor residents like cattle crammed into a barn.
 
Or they paid for one thing and got something else because the contractor thought it would be enough to satisfy them and how would they know the difference?
 
Can't believe this, so who called and how did they have his personal cell number?

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2017/09/22/nursing-home-deaths-deleted-voicemails/
Hollywood (CBSMiami) – The voicemail messages left on Gov. Rick Scott’s personal cellphone by a Hollywood nursing home where at least 11 people have died following Hurricane Irma, were deleted, according to the governor’s office.

There were a total of four voicemails left during the 36 hours before the first patient died, and they would have been a critical piece of evidence in the ongoing investigation into the patient deaths.

Natasha Anderson, a vice president with The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, says she called the governor’s cellphone to say the nursing home needed “immediate assistance” in restoring the power to their air conditioning system.

Scott said at no time did anyone from the nursing home suggest there was a crisis or that patients were in danger.

In response to CBS4’s request for copies of the voicemails, a spokeswoman with the governor’s office, wrote in an email: “The voicemails were not retained because the information from each voicemail was collected by the Governor’s staff and given to the proper agency for handling.”

The Governor has cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for the nursing home and suspended its license. The Governor’s actions, however, have also come under scrutiny.

In the week leading up to Irma, Gov. Scott held a series of conference calls with emergency managers as well as hospital and nursing home officials. During those conference calls he gave out his cellphone number and said if any of the healthcare centers experienced trouble they should call him at that number and he would work to resolve their problem.

Hurricane Irma hit South Florida Sunday September 10 and the nursing home lost some power around 3 p.m. The 152-bed facility located in Hollywood, Florida, has two transformers supplying power to the nursing home. One transformer handles life and safety systems while the second supports the air conditioning system. The storm only knocked out power to the air conditioning system.

On September 10, at 3:49 p.m, administrators contacted Florida Power and Light with an emergency request to restore power. According to nursing home officials, FPL said they would have crews dispatched the next morning.

By the evening of September 11, after repeated calls to FPL, Anderson, the nursing home officials, dialed the cellphone number provided by Scott. It went straight to voicemail. Anderson made three additional calls to Scott’s cellphone on September 12.

The governor’s office says the calls were returned by someone from the state Department of Health and that the nursing home was told that if they had anyone in distress they should call 911 for help.

The nursing home also spoke to the emergency operations center in Tallahassee, which notified the nursing home that their FPL repair order would be “escalated.”

Between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Wednesday September 13, patients at the nursing suffered myriad health issues and during that time at least five of the patients died. State officials say temperatures inside the nursing home were high and that some of the dead registered body temperatures as high as 109 degrees.

The nursing home was then evacuated and at least a half dozen patients would die in the hours and days that followed. The cause of death is still being determined.

The governor’s office said the voicemails were deleted in accordance with the state’s public records law.

The existence of the voice mail messages is irrelevant, officials said.

“None of this changes the fact that this facility chose not to call 911 or evacuate their patients to the hospital across the street to save lives,” a spokeswoman noted.
DKX0ArqV4AEgoss.jpg

from twitter
 
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Retire to Arizona.
Sure it has heat,
but it's a dry heat.
No no no more retirees here please .they can't drive worth shit..
I live ne az ..go to southern Ontario
OK
Plus no hurricanes and tropical storm bull to contend with.
Give me a place away from earthquakes, flooding, all that natural disaster garbage.
Someplace I can have 4 distinct seasons, topless women in public is nice and legal
with no Trump.
God I love Southern Ontario!
[doublepost=1506214847,1506214683][/doublepost]This was wrong .they had plenty of warning to move these people ..
The state would have made sure ..
Fuck the owners of that home hope they get sued I don't usually say this but this was wrong .......
 
th
"Come on now, you didn't actually think your hurricane extreme crisis calls were really going to my private number and I'd pick up?"
th
Bwaaah hahahaha."That's what I love about being in politics." "Constituents will believe anything."
 
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