Letter to the Editor (Houma Courier)

  Re: Policing Residential Living Facilities

Dear Editor:

These days, it is a rare thing to call the City of New Orleans a policy forerunner, but Mayor Cantrell and the New Orleans City Council are to be commended for acting on one of the most important issues to arise in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. The council approved an ordinance to establish emergency protocols for residential living facilities in the city, thereby offering new guidance for everything from independent- and assisted-living facilities to nursing homes and to those facilities servicing the disabled. The days after the storm proved that such an ordinance was necessary, when the city and the region were left without power and other resources. In fact, to quote Councilwoman Kristin Gielson Palmer: “Many of the tenants were physically or financially unable to evacuate, and the owners and operators of the properties left them in inhumane conditions to fend for themselves.” And so, understanding this, the City of New Orleans moved decisively and with prescience. 

As the rest of the state works to also understand how it can improve its own contingency planning, I strongly believe that we should – no, we must – take a lesson from our friends in New Orleans. It is no secret that our broader efforts to combat the neglect of, and potential harm to, our seniors and those with disabilities are shamefully inadequate. And there is no greater demonstration of this inadequacy than in the total systemic failure that resulted in the deaths of seven seniors from nursing homes owned by Bob Dean. 

We all know the story, by now. More than 800 seniors from seven nursing homes were transported to a warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish to ride out Hurricane Ida. There, those seniors met abysmal conditions – oppressive heat, mattresses drenched with sweat across a concrete floor, the smell of unchanged diapers, and little attention from caregivers. Were it not for the deaths and the courage of a whistleblower, this sad episode could have gone unnoticed by the media and the public.

Swiftly, Bob Dean’s nursing home licenses were revoked by LDH, and to that end, attorneys for Dean have appealed the decision, arguing that those same officials had, in fact, inspected the warehouse and approved its use for such an evacuation. They are telling the truth; they produced the receipts – contingency plans for seven nursing homes detailing the evacuation protocols signed off on by LDH. 

Meanwhile, the Governor promised a full investigation into this matter, and as October began, the assistant secretary of the Office of Aging and Adult Services, which oversees the care of our seniors in facilities like nursing homes, was removed from his post. 

But this is not enough. 

I take a particular interest in the care of our seniors. I am a man who had to care for his own mother and grandmother in the latter years of their lives. I know the amount of attention, patience, and effort many seniors require to enjoy even a marginally sufficient quality of life. But each of these seniors is completely deserving of as much as we can give. And as a public servant, I have made it a priority to work in the interest of every member of that wiser generation. 

I fully believe that ours is a state at an inflection point. That a single person died in a manner that could have been prevented should alarm our leaders in Baton Rouge. Well, we lost seven people. That demands we recognize all the failures in our systems and make meaningful changes. And we must do this now, because none of us know when we are likely to face the next major disaster. 

First, to show his seriousness about this ordeal, Governor John Bel Edwards must complete his investigation, and the findings of that investigation must be published and made public. Every resident of this state should know precisely what events took place and led to these deaths. We should know every party that bears culpability. Retracing this sad episode to its origin is necessary to bolster confidence, because we all want to know that our family members and friends are being cared for, and because no one can ever let this happen again. 

Separately, the supervision of nursing homes must be more rigorous. It is clear – and not for the first time, unfortunately – that oversight in this space has been laxed. For that reason, I recommend that LDH cede its role to a board made up of nursing-home owners and operators, members of the medical committee, and elected officials from across the state. This board should be more advisory in nature and function; it should have rule-making, certification, and compliance-enforcement authority to police these facilities effectively.

These are practical and potentially life-saving recommendations, and I pray that my fellow public officials take them seriously. We need to act now, much as leaders in New Orleans have done, and we must protect the lives of our seniors and those most vulnerable in our communities, because they too often lack the ability to protect themselves. And we are seeing what happens when they can’t. 

Regards,

Woodrow Parker

Founder

Aqua Safety First Community Program