Perhaps you’ve read about the horrific tragedy that took place in Hollywood, Florida this week. A review of news reports shows that 8 of the residents, ages 71 to 99, at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills died "following a prolonged outage of our air conditioning system due to Hurricane Irma."
According to a report in the New York Times, this nightmare began when the first patient was rushed into the emergency room at Memorial Regional Hospital in the early morning hours on Wednesday. Another arrived just a short hour later. After a third rescue call was received, hospital staff decided to walk across the street to The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and look into the building themselves. Inside they found baking hot conditions and many residents struggling to breathe. The facility was immediately evacuated and 158 residents were able to get out with the help of hospital workers. Four residents were already dead and another four died shortly after arriving at the hospital for treatment.
There is absolutely no excuse for neglecting the most vulnerable in emergencies. The fact that a hurricane was imminent was known well in advance. The rehabilitation facility went so far as to discuss hurricane season with Florida Power and Light but self-determined that their emergency plan was sufficient. Clearly, these deaths could have been prevented. The Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills is located just across the street from Memorial Regional Hospital.
In a report by CNN, Richard Beltran, spokesman for Florida Power & Light said, "What we know now is that a portion of the facility did, in fact, have power, that there was a hospital across the parking lot from this facility and that the nursing home was required to have a permanently installed operational generator."
Firefighters evacuated 158 people from the nursing home. 18 patients in a behavioral health facility next door also were evacuated. Most who were brought to the hospital were treated for respiratory distress, dehydration, and heat-related issues. CNN’s coverage also included that according to one of the victim’s sons the proximity to Memorial Hospital was a reason for choosing the nursing home. "It was literally feet away," he said. "It fit the things she needed."
Gov. Rick Scott has stated in press reports that officials were in contact with the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills over the past three days. Hospital administrators were advised to call 911 if they had any reason to believe that the health or safety of patients was at risk. Instead, the facility chose to ignore these warnings and rely on fans and spot coolers. Governor Scott has opened an active investigation and plans to aggressively pursue this matter. CNN reported that if the investigation finds that “the facility was not meeting the state's high standards of care, they will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law." There is a simultaneous investigation currently being pursued by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Children and Families. Neither investigation helps the victims' families.
The nursing home has had a list of safety violations and citations, including two for not following generator regulations in 2014 and 2016. In both instances, the nursing home corrected these deficiencies. Obviously, that was not enough. This horrific case is a reminder about the welfare of residents in nursing homes that Hollywood has taken seriously. It led to police checking on 42 additional nursing homes and assisted living facilities. One was evacuated due to excessive heat, as was another in North Miami Beach after these deaths.
As we are now in a political atmosphere of getting rid of government regulations, let this case be a reminder that we can cause deaths when we dispense with safety regulations. We don't need to be dumping regulations willy-nilly; rather, we need to be spending government resources to enforce the ones we have about elders, nursing homes, and safety. We also need a closer inspection of every facility where our vulnerable elders are cared for.The police, in this case, were forced to check on nursing homes in the area. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration is the government and it wasn't doing its job with this facility. Going backwards to see why deaths happened is not good enough. We need to prevent the horrible deaths that can occur before any danger reaches a lethal level. Budget shortfalls are usually the excuse as to why facilities are not inspected more often. Would that be all right with you if your loved one were in such a facility?
The politics of trashing "government regulations" is cheered by some. It's supposed to be good for the economy. It would not be good for vulnerable people anywhere to eliminate government rules about safety. Think of how it must have been for any one of those residents, helpless in a nursing home, gasping for air in heat intense enough to become a death trap, terrified that you could not escape. That place became a torture chamber. Perhaps a sober look at which government regulations can save lives and how we can best and strictly enforce them is worthy of everyone's attention.
