Author: Imported Author 1980807

Baton Rouge / louisianaradionetwork.com

Baton Rouge attorney Ron Haley has filed a lawsuit on behalf of one of the more than 800 nursing home residents that were evacuated to a warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish during hurricane Ida. The suit names nursing homeowner Bob Dean and the Louisiana Department of Health as defendants. Haley said nursing homes in southern parts of the state are required to file an evacuation plan with the state.

“And somehow the State of Louisiana approved a hurricane evacuation plan that said you know what we’re going to roll out 800 something cots, stick them in a hot warehouse and put two or three Porta Potties in there and just leave these people to sit until the storm blows over,” said Haley.

Haley’s client is Darlene Franklin, who is currently in a nursing home in New Roads, was not only a resident in a Bob Dean facility but also a former employee.

“The tragic irony with Ms. Franklin is that Ms. Franklin actually was an employee for Bob Dean and retired as a nurse there in 2016, and five years later she’s a victim,” said Haley.

Inspectors with the health department visited the warehouse after they received reports of deteriorating conditions but were thrown off the property then returned the next day to relocate the more than 800 residents to properly equipped facilities across the state.

Seven residents have since died from the original evacuation to the warehouse.

Haley said Franklin told him not only were evacuees crowed into the warehouse and left on mattresses on the floor, but they also weren’t given food or medication for two days.

“According to my client the smell was so bad and she’s more haunted by the cries of discomfort and pain that the other individuals that were stuck in the nursing home with her. She suffered a great deal from this as everyone that was there did,” said Haley.

This is the second lawsuit filed against Dean, the first was a class action suit filed out of New Orleans. The state has since revoked the licenses of seven nursing homes owned by Dean that were evacuated to the warehouse.

Lawsuit filed against LDH and Bob Dean in nursing home evacuation to Tangipahoa Parish warehouse

Baton Rouge / louisianaradionetwork.com

Governor John Bel Edwards says to expect Tropical Storm Nicholas to be downgraded to a depression as it enters southwest Louisiana, but noting that it doesn’t take a named storm to bring dangerous conditions to the state.

“Life-threatening flash flooding will be the primary concern,” said Edwards.

Nicholas is expected to be a tropical depression once the center of the storm moves into Louisiana on Wednesday.

“And I would only have to point back to 2016 here, and in May of this year as well, that we had unnamed storms that caused significant property damage,” said Edwards.

The rains that Tropical Storm Nicholas will bring to the state, even as a depression, could exacerbate the problem of getting more of Ida storm victim out of the dark after weeks without power.

“It’s possible that…that uh…not just the continued restoration efforts could be slowed, but some of what has already been restored could be lost as well for some period of time,” said Edwards.

According to the Louisiana Public Service Commission, 110-thousand customers had still not had their power restored after the massive destruction to energy systems in southeast Louisiana.

Edwards is warning that south Louisiana is facing anywhere from two to 20 inches of rain from the storm system as it moves eastward across the state.  The state fire marshal’s office has tripled the number of boats on standby to carry out rescues where and when necessary.

Meantime, Edwards says the death toll from Ida in Louisiana has climbed by two to 28…the latest victims said to be elderly and from Baton Rouge died of heat-related causes due to a loss of power during Ida.

Governor Edwards warns of trouble Nicholas could bring

Baton Rouge / louisianaradionetwork.com

State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said when you look at COVID hospitalizations in the state it appears as if they peaked in mid-August but since a major hurricane has hit the state, he fears things could change.

“We’ve had about a 40% reduction since that time. I think the challenge here is given the disruption that the storm presented us, there’s no guarantee that we continue on this downward trajectory,” said Kanter.

On Friday 1,755 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, down more than 40% since the governor issued his latest statewide mask mandate, and the positivity rate has dropped from 14.1% to 11.3%, which is also encouraging.

Kanter said while he’s grateful for the downward trend in COVID hospitalizations he also understands it could be short-lived given the fact that many families were recently forced to shelter with others outside of their immediate household due to Ida.

“Whether that’s in a shelter environment, in an evacuation environment, or even if a family is staying with their neighbor who happens to have power or happens to have a generator,” said Kanter.

Kanter said the message he wants to send is while the numbers are encouraging, we must remain vigilant with COVID mitigation practices to continue to make progress.

“And that means to continue to mask, continue to distance, and ultimately if you’ve not yet chosen to get vaccinated to do that now. We want to continue the progress we’re on and certainly protect against the possibility of future increases,” said Kanter.

New statewide COVID numbers are released weekdays at noon.

COVID hospitalizations appear to have peaked, but storm interruption could divert state’s progress