I was watching the news and saw elderly people in water up to their wheelchairs in Texas... I'm glad the daughter of the owner was able to get them help... I hope everyone who is in the path of this storm is safe. God Bless everyone in Texas and any other state that was hit by Harvey...
La vita is a AL. & AL do not have the requirements that a NH ever would for having an emergency evacuation plan in place. If it's AL, residents are expected to be basically be able to do their ADLs and if not only with minimal assistance.
Another reason why it's so important that you get your elder into a facility that meets their needs & review their care plan often. And ask what the emergency plan is.
We went through Katrina 2005 with mil in a NH in NOLA & lots of friends with their folks in AL & NH here and on MS coast. The regs are pretty specific. But it was pretty tragic even with planning if the emergency overwhelms the system. My mils NH did a hurricane status document before season in which you had to sign what family would do. We signed that we would NOT get her. Year before was H. Ivan and folks were stuck hours & hours trying to just get from Nola to Baton Rouge & learned taking them out of the NH to drive wherever really bad bad terribly bad idea. Like gran with dementia opened door & let pets out and then walked out on I10 as cars not moving..... So when Katrina was coming, folks knew somewhat better. Tragedy still happened but more due to collapse of whole system. This is sadly probably going to be the story for Houston.
It sounds harsh but if they are in AL, they are expected to do on their own. If in NH, NH is expected & required to have a plan.
And if folks are looking to help or donate, Second Harvest Food Bank in NOLA & Lafayette are sending supplies to TX coast both trucked over and loaded onto boats the Cajun Navy has organized. Roads still pretty iffy & impassable. Second has huge dry & refrigerated warehouses & are shrink wrapping pallets right now.
The ladies at La Belle were in a way ahead of the curve in getting out over weekend.
We're just started by to see the destruction of H. Harvey. Tomorrow is 12th anniversary of H. Katrina & as one who went through it & rebuilding afterwards, & lived in Houston before that, what Harvey is doing will be more more complicated & beyond any billions imagined.
Another photo (actually a video) that was gut wrenching was of an elderly man in a wheelchair being rolled along, I believe (if I remember correctly) through a flooded area.
I was not aware that this was an AL facility. Igloo, you've raised a very important issue. I've had discussions with an AL facility in the event that Dad decides it's too much to remain at home, and I never thought about evacuation during a weather event. I did have power outage on my list, as that happened earlier this year. I've just added evacuation and catastrophic weather event to my checklist.
I've read also that one hospital in the flooded area had to evacuate; I can't imagine the challenge of doing that, as well as the confusion the patients might endure. The resources to accomplish that must have been tremendous.
There's an interesting article on why Houston is so vulnerable to floods. It's insightful, and somewhat shocking how much these floods are more devastating due to human intervention, and sometimes just irresponsible land use and development.
Some new hospital builds do submarine doors for central control as it's always put in basement. Jeannie Sealy in Galveston (UTMB) just got rebuilt & has them, very expensive so most hospitals won't. If your elder will be on a vent, you should ask what power systems exist.
La Belle is a small AL too, 14 beds. Their Facebook shows lots of love. Families liked this place as lots of posts with photos. Ladies with pets. My guess it is the rare AL that allows residents to bring a pet.
The next big issue for hospitals will be staff. Those there can't get out nor can their replacement get in to work. I hope things don't become the horror show that devolved at Memorial Baptist & to a lesser degree at Tulane medical during Katrina.
Freeways were flooded in the low lying areas beneath the overpasses. I guess the police blocked traffic for about 5 hours. One of the freeways looked like a lake, except for the massive concrete supports.
Still, it's nothing like what Houston is getting. And I don't think it'll affect homes as much as the low lying areas of the freeway.
Fingers crossed my basement is dry tomorrow; I refuse to go down and look at it tonight as I'm too tired to be bailing water if it's flooded. Yuck.
It's my understanding that homeowner's insurance won't pay for damage unless you have a separate flood insurance policy. And if you aren't in a flood plain, you can't get that insurance, so if a 500 year flood pops up, sorry about that. Oh, I hope I have misinformation regarding that. Does anyone know?
And now the scammers are out. Heard about a group pretending to be the American Red Cross asking for donations :P