By Dennis Romero - NBC News
Seven Louisiana nursing homes were ordered immediately closed Saturday because their patients were evacuated to a warehouse before Hurricane Ida, the state Department of Health said.
Seven patients have died since the evacuation
and five of the deaths have been classified as storm-related deaths, authorities said in a statement.
On Monday and Tuesday of last week, a group of officials visited the warehouse and "observed conditions that greatly concerned the State Health Officer because they
can generate risks to life, health
and public safety," according to a state order. that prohibits the return of residents to the seven facilities.
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WDSU, an NBC affiliate station in New Orleans, reported that a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health said electrical generators at that facility were failing and patients were sleeping on mattresses thrown on the floor, without food or clean clothing.
In addition, the official said that
the warehouse was flooded by rainwater
and the smell of human waste thinned the air in the place.
The spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to
the authorities, state inspectors who visited the warehouse located in the town of Independence
"were expelled
from the property"
and "the owner of the seven facilities for the
elderly intimidated."
A company associated with those nursing homes, most of which are located in the New Orleans metropolitan area, did not respond to a request for comment.
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The state Health Department said Wednesday it
ordered the warehouse's 843 patients to be moved to other facilities
or special needs shelters.
"The lack of regard for the well-being of these vulnerable residents
is an affront to human dignity,
" Louisiana health officer Joseph Kanter said in a statement.
“We have lost confidence in these nursing homes to provide adequate care for their residents.
Today we are taking immediate measures to protect public health ”.
State Health Secretary Courtney N. Phillips warned: "We will take more action."
Denise Bottcher, director of the Louisiana Retired Persons Association, said in a statement that the organization requires state and federal investigations to be initiated "into the care of vulnerable and medically fragile adults and seniors during Hurricane Ida."
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"Nursing homes have a duty to care for their residents, which includes planning for emergencies and evacuations," he said.
"These tragic deaths
are the result of a total failure of oversight,
enforcement and planning dating back more than a decade."
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has promised an investigation will be conducted which, among other things, will determine whether there was an intentional effort to obstruct the warehouse inspection.
Ida passed near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Aug. 29 as a Category 4 hurricane. The Health Department says nursing homes evacuated residents two days before the hurricane made landfall.
With 12 deaths attributed to the storm, Louisiana was one of the states hardest hit by the weather phenomenon.
On Saturday night, 644,648 state utility customers were without power.
