Bus Disaster

sunnyjohn · Sep 23, 2005

They are saying up to 24 people dead. The wheels of the bus caught on fire it was so fot. They think the oxygen tanks had a big part to do with the fire.

So sad.

We really need to get local, state, and federal evacuation plans together to make sure we can handle these type of evacuations ans avoid as much tragedy as possible.

Everyone, make sure you have a good plan to get your family out in case you ever have to evacuate.

opalmRN · Sep 23, 2005

A bus carrying nursing home patients from the Houston area caught fire and exploded killing as many as 24 of the 43 patients onboard near the Dallas metro area.

This infuriates me more than I can express here. What makes me even angrier is that the bozos who organized this haphazrd way to transport these frail people will most likely get a slap on the wrist. :angryfire

I am contacting our DON and asking what type of transportation we have in place should we need to evacuate our residents via transportation.

Chad_KY_SRNA · Sep 23, 2005

Our disaster plan does not address a full evacuation of the facility, we have never faced an outright disaster but no facility is immune. They had patients on military cargo planes in the Florida Keys evacuation, that would have been more appropriate, they do medical transports all of the time. Those poor people, stay and drown or evacuate and get blown up. There are so many public and private ambulances and wheelchair transport vans that needed to be moved anyway to keep them from being destroyed in any flooding. This is just so sad, so utterly utterly sad. I bawled :crying2: right there in the Dairy Queen parking lot.

Chad_KY_SRNA · Sep 23, 2005

A nurse who saw the incident was just on Headline News, she said that she identified herself as a nurse and was told to start triage. She said that there was a lot of cuts, bruises, burns, and smoke inhalation. Most of the survivors were in shock, pretty traumatized looking for their loved ones and friends. I am turning off the TV, this is too much for me to deal with right now.

Judee Smudee, ADN, RN · Sep 23, 2005

The pictures on AOL are awful. The flames burned the bus to a crisp. A nurse who attempted to assist the elderly who made it off bus was just shaking her head. The multiple explosions would be indicitive of O2 tanks blowing.

Nurse Q · Sep 23, 2005

The bus fire is truly a tragedy. My heart goes out to their families. What ticks me off is the comment about the people who organized this evacuation. I don't know of any city that has a surplus of medical transport vehicles. The administration seems to be doing the best with what options they had. Is it their fault the bus burned? Should they be blamed for trying to save 45 lives by evacuating them? Get a grip! Sometimes situations happen that are no one's fault. Give this nursing home credit for trying.

opalmRN · Sep 23, 2005

The bus fire is truly a tragedy. My heart goes out to their families. What ticks me off is the comment about the people who organized this evacuation. I don't know of any city that has a surplus of medical transport vehicles. The administration seems to be doing the best with what options they had. Is it their fault the bus burned? Should they be blamed for trying to save 45 lives by evacuating them? Get a grip! Sometimes situations happen that are no one's fault. Give this nursing home credit for trying.

There were hundreds of ambulances being moved to higher ground (shown on all the news channels)it would have taken a phone call to come by the nursing home first.

Moving elderly people with O2 in a bus? Now that was just plain not using ones head. I'm sorry, I did not mean to upset you but the truth of the matter is anyone working in the nursing home should have had better judgement than this. I know, I work for one.

military spouse · Sep 23, 2005

Just a thought, but the elderly often use buses, particularly with lifts, for transportation to the doctor's office, grocery store, etc. I've seen many of these people porting liquid O2 and even E cyclinders. Do we want to eliminate all bus transportation for people with O2? Also, assisted living and nursing homes transport people with buses and vans on a regular basis.

allnurses Guide · Sep 23, 2005

What about tour buses to Las Vegas? I've seen elderly people get on these with O2 tanks. Or just folks out for a drive in their own car and they have O2 tanks?

I just think this is an awful tragedy and not sure what could have been done.

steph

sunnyjohn · Sep 23, 2005

I'm not upset that these people were evacuated by bus. I'm sad they died. Periosd.

Yes, I know people die every day, but it is still upsetting that these people fleeing to safety ended up not being safe.

directcare4me · Sep 23, 2005

There were hundreds of ambulances being moved to higher ground (shown on all the news channels)it would have taken a phone call to come by the nursing home first.
Moving elderly people with O2 in a bus? Now that was just plain not using ones head. I'm sorry, I did not mean to upset you but the truth of the matter is anyone working in the nursing home should have had better judgement than this. I know, I work for one.

I certainly don't know details of the physical condition of these people, but it seems that if these were perhaps the ambulatory residents who were on oxygen, but otherwise in pretty good condition, wouldn't a bus be OK? I mean, don't people live at home with oxygen, and travel on buses and other forms of transportation? It's a horrible tragedy, but it could have happened anytime, or anywhere, I guess. It just happened to be during an evacuation; I too think that this was supposed to be the quickest way to get these particular people out, instead of going 2 by 2 in ambulances.

It is one of the most heart-breaking things I have heard lately. God bless them.