Many nursing homes and senior living communities in Florida and North Carolina are reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which resulted in forced evacuations of residents, major property damage, power outages and other issues.
The hurricane was being blamed for at least 132 deaths in six Southeastern states and federal officials said at least 600 people were still unaccounted for as of Monday evening. Many people lacked power and cellular service, making the job of accurately assessing personal and property damage all the more difficult.
Tom Akins, president and CEO of LeadingAge North Carolina, said he had talked with a number of member communities in the Asheville, NC, area, where the damage has been devastating. A number of facilities were without power or cell service and lacked access to running water and food as of midday Monday.
“They are trying to pull together to care for residents when they don’t have access to power, they don’t have access to water,” Akins said. “They are trying to find access to food and other supplies they need to care for their residents.”
“This is all against a transportation backdrop of how to get staff to their facilities,” he added, noting that in many cases staff can’t get to work because the roads are damaged or impassable. In some areas near Asheville, emergency supplies were being delivered by mule, the Associated Press reported.
In western Florida, a number of skilled nursing and senior living communities had to be evacuated due to flooding, according to Nick Van Der Linden, senior director of operations for LeadingAge Southeast, which serves the states of Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
“What we’ve heard so far is the majority of our members are doing OK at the moment,” he told McKnight’s Monday afternoon. “They do have power and are operational, but we do have some member communities along the west coast of Florida that were impacted by flooding. This necessitated evacuation of residents and staff.”
Van Der Linden said he did not know the exact number of facilities that had to be evacuated but from the reports he has received, the residents and staff of those facilities are safe and the residents have been moved to other facilities. However, he said some of those buildings suffered major damage from Helene.
“We do have communities that will require some recovery efforts, rebuilding areas like homes and units,” he said.
Van Der Linden said on Monday, he was not aware of major impacts to member facilities in the other three states they serve.
In an article posted on the national LeadingAge website on Sunday, a LeadingAge Southeast staff member had reported that “dozens of independent living and assisted living homes have been destroyed, forcing residents to leave their homes.”
LeadingAge has set up a Hurricane Helene disaster relief fund on its national website to help its members and staff that have been impacted by the storm.
“Our members have over the years donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid staff, residents and member organizations who’ve been harmed by natural disasters,” LeadingAge president and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said in a statement. “Although the impact of these uncontrollable events can be far-reaching and long-lasting, we are here to help see it through.”
A spokeswoman for the national organization said Monday afternoon the group did not have a firm overall number of how many members had been impacted by the hurricane. A lack of power is a major issue and widespread flooding has created problems for first responders to access many affected communities, the rep said, adding that communications is another problem due to power outages and damage to internet infrastructure.
McKnight’s requests for comment to the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living were referred to the state affiliates of the association regarding the status of their facilities in the impacted states and any relief fund efforts that are underway.
The Florida Health Care Association has established a Hurricane Helene Relief Fund through its Florida Health Care Education and Development Foundation, a 501c(3) tax exempt organization. The fund will benefit employees of FHCA member organizations who were impacted by the storm.
