Louisiana state officials have launched an investigation after the death of six residents who were evacuated to a warehouse before Hurricane Ida hit southeast Louisiana. The deaths have not been classified as storm-related.
The owner of the seven nursing homes in Louisiana had previously filed his Emergency Preparedness Plan with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH). The Plan included how he would move as many as 700 residents to a warehouse, which he also owned, in case of an evacuation.
As Hurricane Ida approached, all seven homes were evacuated, and 843 residents were brought to the warehouse the day before the storm hit Louisiana. Approximately 20% more residents needed to be evacuated than had previously been planned for in case of an evacuation.
LDH officials inspected the warehouse two days before landfall of Hurricane Ida, and then again the day before Hurricane Ida hit. Inspectors found that from a facility standpoint, the minimum necessary components to provide a safe sheltering environment for a very short period were met.
After landfall of Hurricane Ida, water entered the building and backup generators failed, trash piled up, care declined to very poor standards, and residents complained of having to lie in their own feces and urine. A spokesperson for the LDH stated, “Residents’ basic care needs were not met, and it was clear to receiving hospitals that residents had been neglected.” Additionally, the owner of the seven buildings failed to communicate the dire situation to the State and to ask for help. He instead tried to prevent LDH’s inspectors from entering the premises and assessing the situation.
Four days after Hurricane Ida hit southeast Louisiana, four of the residents had died, and LDH officials shut the warehouse down and moved the 800-plus residents to other shelters and care facilities. There have been a total of seven deaths linked to the evacuation and the aftermath.
The owner of the seven facilities stated that the plan to house residents in the warehouse went fairly well. “We only had five deaths within the six days, and normally with 850 people, you’ll have a couple a day, so we did really good with taking care of people.”
On September 7, 2021, Louisiana health officials stated that they are revoking the licenses of nursing homes that were evacuated to the warehouse. Prior to the evacuation, the seven nursing facilities received poor federal ratings for quality of care based upon their inspections. The Medicare.gov website gave six of the seven nursing facilities the lowest possible rating, and five of the facilities were specifically criticized for poor quality of resident care.
In the past, the owner of the seven facilities had also opted to evacuate his facilities when a hurricane with Category 3 winds was approaching. In these events he also used warehouses or other large buildings he owns to serve as temporary care centers for the residents.
Issue:
The time to review your emergency preparedness plan is now and not during an emergency. This should include a plan on how an evacuation would be implemented should it become necessary. If an emergency does happen in your facility, it is critical that all are prepared and ready to take appropriate and swift action. A satisfactory emergency preparedness plan can mean the difference between life and death for residents and staff.
Discussion Points:
- Review your Emergency Preparedness Plan. Ensure that your Plan includes how an evacuation will be conducted if it becomes necessary. Compare your plan to the required Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Emergency Preparedness Actions. Update your Emergency Preparedness Plan as needed.
- Train all staff on your Emergency Preparedness Plan. Conduct drills for the various disaster response plans to ensure staff competency with each. Document that these trainings and drills occurred and file the signed documents in each employee’s education file.
- Audit staff understanding to ensure that they are aware of their roles during an emergency per your Emergency Preparedness Plan.
