Nursing homes say Gov. Rick Scott’s emergency deadline is impractical

Reacting to how 10 residents have now died after Hurricane Irma knocked out power at a Hollywood Hills nursing home, Gov. Rick Scott initiated an emergency order this week for all nursing homes in Florida to have generators capable of running air conditioning in place by Nov. 15.

Manatee County nursing homes and assisted living facility administrators say it can’t be done.

Most appreciate Scott’s intent, but say the deadline that must be met or face $1,000-a-day fines has the industry scrambling. Nursing homes say the governor doesn’t understand the process.

John Rowland, plant operations director for Manatee Springs Care and Rehabilitation Center, called Scott’s deadline “ridiculous.”

Rowland is a certified contractor and takes care of maintaining the Bradenton facility. While Manatee Springs, 5627 Ninth St. E., has backup generators to run essential life-saving equipment, the facility does not have one big enough to run air-conditioning.

“Sixty days is a ridiculous amount of time to have plans drawn up, then get approved by the AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration), which would likely take 60 days just for the approval, and then enter into a contract to put it in,” Rowland said. “And those types of generators don’t exist on store shelves. If you wanted to buy a generator that would have to be hard-wired and engineered, you can’t just run to Home Depot and pick one up.”

Store-bought generators can run some power in an average residential home, and possibly an air-conditioning window unit, but to run central air conditioning in a larger facility would require a generator costing between $80,000 and $100,000, if not more, Rowland said.

State regulators did not require generators prior to Scott’s emergency order, rather an “alternate” source of power, which can include battery-operated fans. Most feel Scott’s anger over what happened in Hollywood is justified, but the Florida Health Care Association said it’s the timeline that is impractical.

In a statement to the Bradenton Herald Thursday, Scott said lives are more important that timetables.

“Assisted living facilities and nursing homes serve our elderly and Florida’s most vulnerable residents, and so many families rely on the health care professionals at these facilities to care for their loved ones,” Scott said. “I am outraged over the deaths of eight Floridians at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills in Broward County and I am demanding answers as we furiously investigate this terrible loss of life.”

Scott said there was no excuse for the facility in Hollywood to delay calling 911 and that it was a decision that put lives in danger.

“During emergencies, health care facilities must be fully prepared to ensure the health, safety and well being of those in their care and there is absolutely no excuse not to protect life,” Scott said. “The inability for this nursing home in Broward County to protect life has shined the light on the need for emergency action. Failure to comply will result in penalties, including fines up to $1,000 per day and the possible revocation of a facility’s license.”

Others say Scott’s actions are just punishing everyone for one facility’s mistakes, a facility that has a history of bad reports and a low rating in the first place.

Roberta Jackson, administrator at Serenity Gardens of Bradenton, said the entire support system set up by Scott before Irma’s arrival was a complete failure. Jackson sat in on the conference calls with Scott before the storm. A list of contacts was provided, but getting in contact with anyone after the storm proved to be difficult, if not impossible.

“We were without power until Thursday evening (Sept. 14),” Jackson said of her facility at 2211 29th Ave. W. “I called everyone I was supposed to call, and I’m more frustrated with the support system that didn’t support us. I’m more frustrated with the system who say they care, but they don’t. Nobody called back to help. None of those organizations helped out.”

Jackson said Scott’s decision over the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills’ handling of the situation “is creating a hardship on all of us. I don’t think it’s fair. I think the governor is comparing apples to oranges when you are talking about that particular facility and every other facility in the state. I was in contact with every family member of our residents. It never got hotter than 85 degrees because we kept the facility ventilated. The families were very supportive and everyone was in good spirits.”

Scott indicated it wasn’t a punishment as some administrators may feel, rather a lesson that should not repeated.

“Around our state, thousands of nurses and health care professionals are rising to the challenge that Irma has presented to Florida,” Scott said. “These individuals are heroes to the countless Floridians they serve and I am so proud of their work. Our state agencies, community partners and health care associations are also working together to shift resources in real-time to and from facilities with power to those without as power restoration continues. However, we must absolutely make sure there are laws in place to keep all vulnerable Floridians safe. I will stop at nothing to protect Floridians.”

Florida Power & Light has taken some criticism for not responding to areas where nursing homes and assisted living facilities are located to address the needs of vulnerable patients. The state does not list nursing homes as a critical need when it comes to restoring power. Rather than focus anger over what happened in Hollywood at all nursing homes, some believe it would be better spent working out a plan between the state and its utility companies.

“I think FPL should have done a better job to make sure assisted living facilities were up and running,” Jackson said. “I was surprised to learn that we aren’t considered a critical need. I thought we were. We should be. A lot of people are a lot worse off than we are in Manatee County and I don’t feel like I have anything to complain about, but at the same time, I know we didn’t do anything wrong. I did everything I was supposed to do.”

Jim Polaski, regional vice president for Westminster Communities of Florida, with three communities in Manatee County, said it will be a challenge to meet the governor’s deadline.

“First of all, Westminster is in support of anything to help serve seniors better and more safely,” Polaski said. “But the rule is very complex and costly. I don’t know if it’s practical to get it done in a 60-day time frame. It involves engineering and ordering complex components, and then the fact that you will have hundreds of facilities trying to order them at the same time.”

Polaski said he has not had time to even begin determining what it will cost.

“We are just starting to get a grasp on what the requirements are and how we would comply,” he said. “I’m assuming the next step is to have electrical studies done to determine the next steps after that, but we are beginning that process. We are trying to understand the regulations and comply to whatever it turns out to be. We pride ourselves on not just doing the minimum, but doing what’s right above and beyond that for our residents.”

Polaski said it’s still too early to know what went wrong in the Hollywood incident, “but anything to improve the system and ability to care or our residents makes sense and is something we will support.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Nursing homes say Gov. Rick Scott’s emergency deadline is impractical."