After Hollywood nursing home tragedy, backup power systems still lacking
With hurricane season a week away, public officials gathered Friday at the site of the 2017 nursing home catastrophe in Hollywood and called for more steps to make sure it never happens again.
Twelve elderly people died after Hurricane Irma knocked out power at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, where patients sweltered for three days in temperatures that reached 99 degrees.
The home has been closed. The Hollywood Police Department launched a criminal investigation that is still “active and ongoing,” said city spokeswoman Joanne Hussey.
At a news conference in front of the closed nursing home, U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat whose district includes the home, criticized nursing homes that have failed to meet a state requirement to install backup generators by the start of hurricane season, imposed after the Hollywood disaster. She was joined by Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy and former state Sen. Eleanor Sobel.
Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-ne-nursing-home-hurricane-deaths-20190524-mnje5k3xnnfd3h4jxuj3cgleby-story.html
(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
