(HorizonPost.com) – Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, exactly 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc upon the area. It seems history repeated itself with some of the most vulnerable people in those situations… nursing home patients. Expressing his frustration was Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser (R) when he asked (rhetorically), “how can [nursing home deaths] happen after we’ve gone through Katrina… and set things in place so this would never happen again?” Good question — one a particular nursing home owner is going to have to answer.
The more than 800 residents from 7 area nursing homes owned by Bob Dean were loaded up and shipped off to a warehouse (which he owned) to ride out the storm. There, they were reportedly jammed in without regard for social distancing. Some people only had mattresses on the floor instead of cots or beds. This video will provide a little insight:
Reports of problems at the warehouse began to roll in shortly after Ida passed through New Orleans. They say patients had not been cared for properly, if at all. Officials found that 7 people had died after being relocated there. According to reports, the building was hot and reeked of urine as well. The building also experienced some flooding.
Authorities shut down all seven nursing homes and revoked their licenses to operate, although that’s cold comfort to those who lost loved ones, particularly because of Mr. Dean’s track record. Nola.com reported that in 1998, he moved residents of another nursing home he owned to the Lyceum Ballroom in Baton Rouge — also owned by him, of course — when Hurricane Georges was approaching the area. Two patients died there.
Investigations are still ongoing.
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