Hurricane Evacuation Poses Challenges By Webster
Aug 28, 2019 9:15:49 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Aug 28, 2019 9:15:49 GMT -5
The Conversation: Hurricane evacuation of nursing home residents still an unsolved challenge
-Read more: theconversation.com/hurricane-evacuation-of-nursing-home-residents-still-an-unsolved-challenge-121163
Hurricane season is here, with the historical peak of the Atlantic season approaching. While these storms can be terrifying, when a bad one is on the way, people usually have time to prepare. One key decision is choosing whether to flee to a safe location or ride out the storm in our homes.
For frail, older people these often are life-and-death decisions. On Aug. 26, three nurses and a nursing home administrator were criminally charged in the heat-related deaths of 12 people in a Hollywood Hills, Florida, nursing home after Hurricane Irma in 2017. The facility did not evacuate for the storm and lost air conditioning power.
We’re studying long-term care administrators’ decisions to evacuate or shelter in place for Hurricane Irma, which threatened the entire state of Florida, and Hurricane Harvey, which dumped flooding rain on parts of Texas less than a month earlier. The obvious choice may be to evacuate. But in our research we’re learning these decisions are not so clear-cut.
These decisions are hard because both choices – evacuating or sheltering in place – present risks. To keep older adults safe in future disasters, we need to know more about how long-term care facilities prepare for hurricanes, how administrators decide whether to evacuate or shelter in place, and how their residents fare as a result of these decisions...
For frail, older people these often are life-and-death decisions. On Aug. 26, three nurses and a nursing home administrator were criminally charged in the heat-related deaths of 12 people in a Hollywood Hills, Florida, nursing home after Hurricane Irma in 2017. The facility did not evacuate for the storm and lost air conditioning power.
We’re studying long-term care administrators’ decisions to evacuate or shelter in place for Hurricane Irma, which threatened the entire state of Florida, and Hurricane Harvey, which dumped flooding rain on parts of Texas less than a month earlier. The obvious choice may be to evacuate. But in our research we’re learning these decisions are not so clear-cut.
These decisions are hard because both choices – evacuating or sheltering in place – present risks. To keep older adults safe in future disasters, we need to know more about how long-term care facilities prepare for hurricanes, how administrators decide whether to evacuate or shelter in place, and how their residents fare as a result of these decisions...
