Seven Louisiana nursing homes shut down after evacuating patients to warehouse during Hurricane Ida

The Louisiana Department of Health has ordered seven nursing homes to close immediately after they evacuated hundreds of patients to a single warehouse with “deteriorating conditions” to escape Hurricane Ida.

Seven patients have died since the move, five of which have been classified as storm-related fatalities, the health department said in a statement Saturday.

“What happened in Independence is reprehensible, and I know there are many families hurting as a result,” LDH Secretary Dr. Courtney N. Phillips said in a statement.

“Today’s action against these facilities is needed. There is more to come. Our Department’s mission is to advance the health and wellbeing of our residents — and that includes our vulnerable nursing home residents.”

River Palms Nursing and Rehab in Orleans Parish, South Lafourche Nursing and Rehab in Lafourche Parish, Maison Orleans Healthcare Center in Orleans Parish, Park Place Healthcare Nursing Home in Jefferson Parish, West Jefferson Health Care Center in Jefferson Parish, Maison DeVille Nursing Home in Terrebonne Parish and Maison DeVille Nursing Home of Harvey in Jefferson Parish have all been shut down.

Health officials visited the Independence warehouse on Monday and Tuesday, after Ida hit, and “observed conditions that have caused great concern to the State Health Officer that he reasonably believes may cause a danger to the public life, health, and safety,” according to the health department.

The officer also warned about the “possible spread of infectious disease” as COVID-19 continues to run rampant.

But the officials were “expelled from the property and prevented from conducting a full assessment” Tuesday, according to the health department.

A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health told WDSU that officials had received reports of water inside the building, failed generators, people sleeping on mattresses on the floor without clean clothes or food and “strong odors of feces in the building.”

When officials returned to the warehouse Wednesday, they arrived with multiple state agencies and local officials and began evacuating residents immediately, starting with the most vulnerable. By Thursday, everyone had been removed from the facility.

“The lack of regard for these vulnerable residents’ wellbeing is an affront to human dignity. We have lost trust in these nursing homes to provide adequate care for their residents,” Dr. Joseph Kanter, Louisiana’s State Health Officer, said in a statement. “We are taking immediate action today to protect public health.”

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