ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There shouldn’t be a single nursing home without power this hurricane season thanks to a new law.
But there might not be anyone enforcing that law.
It was one of the saddest stories to come out of Hurricane Irma: Fourteen seniors died in a nursing home in Hollywood after being left without power in sweltering conditions.
The tragedy prompted change: All senior facilities are required to have back-up power for at least 96 hours.
But how is the state making sure that nearly 3,800 facilities have their generators ready to go by June 1?
Highland Lakes Assisted Living at St. Mark’s Village in Palm Harbor was one of the facilities without power following Hurricane Irma. Such shouldn't happen again, said administrator Sheila Kynion, even though they won't have their generator by the deadline.
“Our generator delivery date will actually be after the June 1st deadline so we have filed an extension,” she said.
That extension was approved by the Agency for Health Care Administration, Kynion said.
Inspections, filed plans not mandatory
County emergency management officials are responsible for signing off on the emergency plans of individual nursing homes and assisted living facilities, but don’t have to conduct physical inspections.
When it comes to enforcing the new generator law, counties are leaving that to the state.
“That's AHCA's responsibility to make sure that that's done by June 1,” explained Joe Borries with Pinellas County Emergency Management.
Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Preston Cook thinks the new law will protect the most vulnerable members of our population.
There’s more than 330 senior facilities in Hillsborough County.
“Our role is not to go out and do the onsite inspections," he said. "They have state agencies that go out as part of AHCA that does those on site inspections. Our job is to review the plans, help the agencies and organizations get through the planning process and make sure those plans are in place."
AHCA has yet to comment on how they are enforcing their June 1 deadline but in a statement, AHCA said, "It is AHCA’s expectation that all ALFS and nursing homes are actively planning for hurricane season and complying with the new rules put in place to protect the vulnerable population they serve. Since the publication of the emergency rule nursing homes and assisted living facilities have been working to implement plans to address emergency power. By June 1, 2018 facilities must have access to an emergency power source such as a generator for use during a power outage, have arrangements to bring a power source onsite when an emergency is declared, or evacuate if the facility is in an evacuation zone. Our expectation is that emergency power plans will be implemented by June 1 however the final rules do allow extensions until January 1, 2019 only if patient protections are in place to ensure safe temperatures at all times."
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