nuring homesdeaths in new orleans area

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2005

Very Sad...But there must be some explanation...
I can't see dedicated nurses leaving residents when there was any hope of saving them.

There may have only been one/two/three "nurses" on duty for a very large number of patients. The rest of the staff (also very sporifice) would be rather poorly paid, overworked (under normal conditions), sporificely trained aides.

Perhaps the questions should be directed to the owners of the facility on why they did not ensure enough staff to evacuate and did not evacuate.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Sep 8, 2005

This really ticks me off. These staff members were abandoned by everyone and on their own. You couldn't call anyone and no one came to rescue them apparently. I am sure it came down to a choice of living or dying for them or at least seemed that way with all communications down and no help coming. I am sure they agonized horribly but had no options. They had their lives and their families to deal with and save also. How dare we assume that they just "abandoned" these poor souls. DO NOT even begin to criticize them until you have walked in their shoes. I am horrified by the implied tone of some of the comments in this thread. We do not know what happened yet. We of all people should know that sometimes being a nurse requires unfair sacrifices. If this place was flooding and they had no way to get people out who are bedridden and no one helped them or even communicated withthem what would you have them do. I am just infuriated by the tone of this thread.

Jo Dirt · Sep 8, 2005

I obviously don't know what happened, but I would find it very hard to believe that every single staff member would abandon. Sure some probably would bail out quickly, but I've been in LTC to long and KNOW that most would stick it out until the end - but in this case.. could the staff have literally SWAM to safety. Imagine water up to your waist or even neck and still rising - what would you really, REALLY do? By staying and "sticking it out" who would you even imagine you are really going to save. Like I said, I have no idea what really happened, but this was an EXTREME disaster. Would the situation have made anyone feel better to have found 5-10 dead staff as well (which maybe they still will - who knows yet). Sorry - not trying to make anyone defensive here - just wanted to see how the other shoe fit.

This is the way I see it, right or wrong. Self preservation is a very strong instinct, and with the exception of my children I don't know many people I would die for, especially when there may not be a thing I could save them from. I have no doubts I would do the best I could for the patients but when it came to swimming or going under there isn't a single person here (except someone with a death wish) who would choose to go out like that. I don't understand why the nursing homes were not evacuated. I can't imagine the storm came and the water rose so fast there wasn't time to get them out.

There was no happy ending to this story, whether they swam or not.

mead · Sep 8, 2005

Can any one tell me when under manditory evacuation that this nursing home was not?????

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2005

Can any one tell me when under manditory evacuation that this nursing home was not?????

Perhaps for the same reasons that the hospitals were not evacuated.

Jo Dirt · Sep 8, 2005

It was just a bad situation. I read now that water rose within a matter of minutes. We can't judge the staff who fled too harshly, they did the only thing they felt they could do.

Chad_KY_SRNA · Sep 8, 2005

I am sickened by this news report

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/08/katrina.impact/index.html

In a grim indicator of what may lie ahead, authorities were removing the remains of more than 30 people from a flooded nursing home in a suburban New Orleans parish.

The discovery at St. Rita's Nursing Home in lower St. Bernard Parish came as 25,000 body bags arrived at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

Early Thursday, the official death toll along from Hurricane Katrina stood at 294, but that number is expected to rise dramatically.

Mortuary teams with refrigerated trucks began arriving Wednesday at the nursing home, where St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stevens said "30-plus" bodies were found. Between 40 and 50 other people were rescued from the facility, Stevens said.

The parish is east of New Orleans, where between 10,000 and 15,000 people are believed to remain in the flooded city, and thousands are feared dead.

Deputies reported that floodwaters had reached a height of eight feet in some parts of St. Bernard. The nursing home was still surrounded by about three feet of water on Wednesday, as authorities began removing bodies.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 8, 2005

More on St Rita's and flooding in St Bernard Parish:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/national/nationalspecial/07chalmette.html

East of New Orleans, Heavy Damage, Lost Lives and Pleas for Help

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Sep 8, 2005

Watching the news right now, about 35 patient found dead, apparently abandoned by the staff. It would be hard to imagine that all of them died, and then the staff just left.

This is so disturbing. All the deaths in general. :stone

grannynurse FNP student · Sep 8, 2005

a. How many person in SNF on live dependent oxygen. No electricity no power for portable concentrators---portable tanks small green last only 8 hours.
b. Water supply and food issues---same for everyone.
c. this happened on a Sunday--bet only 1 professional in the building. Louisiana has lax legislation--might really be Assisted living with only med aides and CNA staffing place. With flooding , no one form outer area to get in.
d. No one came to evacuate Charity hospital until Docs called AP news. Don't have any better communication in SNF facilities to get word to outside responders.
e Only time will tell all the facts.
These are the facts that have been reported:
1. Most of those who could be initially evacuated were.
2. Those that could not, owing to a variety of health problems were not.
3. Members of the staff remained with those patients.
4. Initially all were safe until the levee broke.
5. When it become obvious they need to be evacuated call for help went out.
6. When there was no response and the water kept rising, staff began to evacuate patients.
7. A staff member and someone else stayed behind. It was evident by by the nailing os a table over one of the entry points, into the room where they were found, and by heavy electric wheelchairs place in an attempt to imped the flow of water. I seriously doubt a nursing home resident could do any of that.
Grannynurse :balloons:

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Sep 8, 2005

I am with so many that said we don't know the reasons behind the obvious evacuation of staff, but I am sure it was reasonable under this horrid unimaginable situation!

I can't even think of what I may do...not a situation I have even had to face at 1/16 or more~! I do know that Nursing is my career, Family is my life...and if I HAD to choose ....it would be so very very hard, but my family and my own life is top of the list, but I sure as heck would try my hardest to save as many as I could while I did what I needed to do for me! I couldn't live with myself otherwise!

I am sure more facts will come to surface, and hopefully the choice did have some grounding in priority, triage, and common sence no matter hard and heart shattering it would be.

Someone put it pretty well when they said...so 35 dead, would it make it better to see 5 staff floating next to them too??? Think about that...truthfully when I do, I have nighmares in daylight!

My heart and hopes are with everyone there, and my encouragement and full support of all medics running beyond empty and still going on helping others! Especially and not limited to the dedicated nurses working in rather hopeless feeling conditions with no end in sight...there will be light at the end of the tunnel...and bless you all for what you do for those that can't do it for themselves.

Chad_KY_SRNA · Sep 8, 2005

I just scrolled over to CNN again, they have found 14 more bodies in the flooded Memorial Hospital in New Orleans. They didn't say if they were bodies that had died before the hospital was evacuated or if they had been dropped off at the hospital since the storm. I read one news report that said that as the flood waters rose into Saint Rita's the staff was trying to evacuate the patients and there were just too many residents and too little time to move them.