Nursing Homes Underwater

This image from an earlier diary got me thinking about how we haven't heard much about all the nursing homes in the New Orleans area.

       

So I collected addresses and other info from Nursing Home Compare, did Google map satellite searches for some and then found them on the NOAA satellite aftermath shots.  

More after the jump...

Nursing homes within 6 miles of downtown New Orleans (none of these are "hospital-based" -- they're known as freestanding nursing homes):

         

I have no idea about the number of floors in these places, but I fear the worst for some.  Even for those that are not underwater, I can't imagine how they've been able to get the residents out.  It's possible some were evacuated in advance.  

The image above may be of a resident and nursing assistant from this place below, given that it's located on the western edge of the French Quarter and apparently not underwater.  It has 94 beds, and there appear to be no cars in its parking lot:

MAISON HOSPITALIERE
1220 DAUPHINE STREET
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70116
[phone]

         

This place below is a 119 bed non-profit and it appears to be surrounded by water:

BETHANY HOME
2535 ESPLANADE AVENUE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70119
[phone]

         

This place below has 180 beds and looks to be surrounded by water:

CHATEAU DE NOTRE DAME
2832 BURDETTE STREET
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70125
[phone]

         

This place below has 96 beds, and looks to be "dry" -- though with about 5 cars in the parking lot:

COVENANT HOME
5919 MAGAZINE STREET
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70115
[phone]

           

This one below has 100 beds, also underwater:

LAFON HOME OF THE UMC
4021 CADILLAC STREET
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70122
[phone]

           

This one below has 200 beds.  It is right along the Lake:

GOOD SAMARITAN REHABILITATION AND NURSING CTR
6400 HAYNE BLVD.
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70126
[phone]

           

This one below has 200 beds.

CRESCENT CITY HEALTH CARE
1420 GENERAL TAYLOR
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70115
[phone]

           

The one below has 116 beds, with water coming right up to it.

ST CHARLES HEALTH CARE
1539 DELACHAISE ST.
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70115
[phone]

           

This one is a 114 bed for-profit:

CARROLLTON HEALTHCARE CENTER
3316 PINE ST.
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70125
[phone]

           

Finally, this is a 142 bed government home, mostly dry:

NEW ORLEANS HOME & REHAB CTR
612 HENRY CLAY AVENUE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70118
[phone]

           

Update [2005-9-4 12:31:17 by Chance the gardener]: I'm guessing the elder that Aaron Broussard was speaking about (on Meet the Press) was in St. Rita's. Mike Doughney in the comments below provided a link to the location of St. Rita's:



Others have pointed out that there are many other nursing homes in the area, many on lower ground than those pictured above. There are actually 76 nursing homes within 50 miles of New Orleans, and many, many more assisted living residences I'm sure.

I will post an update in coming days about these places (and others up and down the coast) as I find out more.

•   Pray

  Please say a prayer for the souls of the elders and workers in those places.

  by Chance the gardener on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:11:42 PM PDT

  •  Now if you had been at FEMA

    They would have fired you years ago. An amazing piece of work!

    by Ed in Montana on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:38:18 AM PDT

  •  excellent job! beyond prayer, however,

    we need to ensure the American people embrace just who ensured those nursing homes would be "strangled in the bathtub" of New Orleans.  
    the gravity of this disaster is so absolutely the result of politics, make it stick to those responsible to much of the katastrophe.

    check out and recommend the Bu$h Katastrophe: Hurricane Katrina at max politicization!.
    

    by luaptifer on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:03:42 AM PDT

•  Good job, recommend N/T

  by potato on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:17:58 PM PDT

•  This was a hell of a lot of work...

  ...and it may not even make the recommended list. But as someone who's had multiple elderly and incapacitated relatives in nursing homes and always felt worried about their well-being, I can't thank you enough for this diary. Outta sight, outta mind, and I fear that nothing good happened to most of the residents. It's heartbreaking.

  by Addison on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:19:23 PM PDT

  •  re: This was a hell of a lot of work...

    Damn sure musta been and really brings something to light that I haven't heard much on either.

    Recommended.

    by tlh lib on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:22:40 PM PDT

    •  thanks for the recommends...

      It did take a few hours, and it was an emotional experience scrolling through all those aerial shots, trying to spot the nursing homes and thinking about the devastation in each of the surrounding buildings.  

      I hope more folks can see this, maybe even someone with info on one of those places.

      by Chance the gardener on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:30:37 PM PDT

      •  Congrats!!!

        Congratulations on making it to the recommended list! With only 8 comments, that may be a record! I was really afraid this wouldn't make it, but thank God it did and thank you again for writing it!

        by Addison on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:02:24 PM PDT

      •  Thanks

        Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention.

        It's Amazing what you can find with Google these days.

        by Darksyde888 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:40:31 AM PDT

      •  Amazing Work

        Thank you for your efforts - and just echoed on Meet the Press now - describing how the resident of a nursing home drowned on Friday despite repeated assurances that help was on the way.

        by Athena on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:58:40 AM PDT

        •  I am in tears

          I just saw that.  

          by Chance the gardener on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:03:16 AM PDT

•  God help us all.

  My next door neighbor just moved her mom from an assisted living facility in New Orleans to a nursing home in So. Georgia, so that she would be more centrally located for all her children to visit. They did this about three weeks ago. My neighbor is certain that if they hadn't, her mother would be dead.

  Fuck all the assholes who say that the people who didn't evacuate deserved this. How can someone in a nursing home evacuate? How can someone who is sick in a hospital evacuate? How can a woman in labor evacuate? How can someone without a car who relies on public transportation evacuate? How can someone whose car is in the shop evacuate? My husband's cousin almost didn't get out on Sunday because her car battery was dead.

  I don't think I can be in the same room with anyone who voted for this puke-of-a-president without vomiting myself.

  I have never been so angry in my life.

  by Grassroots Mom on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:28:23 PM PDT

  •  Right, I've been thinking that all along too.

    All those people stranded and massed together at the Superdome and convention center, and those who are still stranded in their homes -- those who did not evacuate in time -- weren't necessarily all poor (although they certainly are now). They could have been left behind, or remained behind, for any number of reasons or unfortunate coincidences. Even Fats Domino had decided to try to "sit it out" at home.

    Plus, anyone would look poor and destitute if caught on camera as they are now in their present desperate "refugee" state, having arrived where they are now in whatever clothes they had on when all hell broke loose. You're not going to find people all gussied up and looking chic and well-to-do after being trapped in, or fleeing, a hurricane and flood, and then being massed together in conditions worse than a concentration/extermination camp.

    Now, though, however good or bad their former lives were, they're all starting off again from zero, and are trying to hang onto what's left of their lives by the skin of their teeth.

    And this administration's criminal, heartless incompetence and foot-dragging is certainly killing hundreds (or thousands) more than the hurricane itself and the initial flooding did.

    by Donna in Rome on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:00:29 AM PDT

    •  well-dressed victims

      What do you mean, victims are not well-dressed and clean?  Why, the video record contradicts that!

      Check out the two mysteriously clean and well-dressed African-American women who appeared out of nowhere in Biloxi to embrace Bush and walk around the well-swept "ruins" of the town, and to disappear just as mysteriously after Bush's photo-op.  This caught the eye and suspicions of two German TV news crews, one of which has footage of the event.

      Yesterday's blog on the fake levee repair and Biloxi photo op illuminated a number of these contradictions, which apparently shocked German reporters into reporting (universally) that Bush's visit to the region was carefully stage-managed, complete with aid stations that were cleaned up and carted off right after Bush's departure.  One reporter said that the stage management and deception was as shocking as the devastation wrought by Katrina itself.

      The MSM needs to find out what's going on here.  Who were those African-American women?  Someone should put out a missing persons reward and identify them.  I'd bet a nickel they weren't from Biloxi...

      by QuickSilver on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 09:03:59 AM PDT

•  Oh, lord.

  I've been wondering about this. Is CMS helping?  CAN I HELP?

  Please call out to us, especially those of us far away.  We're desperate to help (and contributing to Red Cross is good but just not enough).

  My heart is breaking.

  by hoolia on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:44:31 PM PDT

•  asdf

  What a powerful picture. I'm sorry to react to something other than the contents of the diary, but wow. If there's any image to stick it to the blame-the-black-dumb-looter-killer-rapists, it's this.

  by alextmw on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 10:56:06 PM PDT

  •  I agree...

    ...race doesn't matter when we're all made human once more through tragedy. A picture that never should've existed except in our most horribly beautiful nightmares.

    by Addison on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:03:58 PM PDT

  •  This photo might be the one that turns

    our country around.  Remember the photo of the young girl screaming over the Kent State student dead on the sidewalk, or the photo of the Vietnamese girl napalmed and running down the road?

    by hoolia on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:33:31 PM PDT

    •  Let's

      not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure there will be many more horrendous and emotional pictures to come out over time. But yes, this speaks volumes. The only problem is that it doesn't embody the situation, it doens't represent it as a whole too well.

      by alextmw on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:51:13 PM PDT

      •  It does embody the situation.

        I'm seeing horror and terror in the face of the young woman and complete vulnerability in the face of the older woman.

        This photo does not capture the pain of all the people harmed by hurricane Katrina but it does scare the liver out of those of us who take care of fragile people.

        by hoolia on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:56:44 AM PDT

        •  I know

          You're right about the pure emotion. Still, I think 'the' picture would be something that more adequately expressed the sense of complete abandonment that is central to this man-made disaster, no? Very abstract, but still..

          by alextmw on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 01:24:45 AM PDT

      •  so what do you suggest rerpesents it???????

        just wondering! maybe a picture of a bloated dead body? maybe a picture of a smirking george????

        by stodghie on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:48:17 PM PDT

    •  Good lord--

      the girl at Kent state was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that photo.

      by nape on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:04:43 AM PDT

  •  The Younger Woman...

    had cared for/nursed the elder woman for five years.  The picture I saw of them was taken after this one...the woman was surrounded by her nurse and several other women as she passed away.  Sorry, I can't find the image and story, which had both of their names.

    by btrflisoul on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:12:12 AM PDT

    •  This was the picture...

      and the story that amazed the people who thought all the black people in New Orleans were rampaging and looting.  This young woman is distraught, and caring for this elderly lady and advocating for her.  This picture embraces all ofour humanity and inhumanity in this crisis.  I'll put this one up for the Pulitzer.

      by murrayewv on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:16:49 AM PDT

•  at least one nursing home

  Evacuated its residents before the storm in a school bus, and two of the evacuees died in transit. I don't know which nursing home that was.
  Thanks for posting all of these. That one on Magazine Street, Covenant Home, is very lovely from the street, from what I remember. My sister used to live on Magazine Street across the street from the place, and it always looked very peaceful and lovely. I used to sit on her front porch and stare at the Live Oaks in the front lawn.
  I hope everyone there managed to make it out alive. I hope that for all the nursing home residents. What a horrible death. How dare the Republican leadership yell about Terri Schaivo starving to death and dying of dehydration, when they've managed to let thousands of innocent people suffer a worse fate--dying of dehydration and starvation with the full knowledge that it's happening to you!

  by rioduran on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:16:42 PM PDT

  •  Mississippi nursing home story

    Talked last night to sister in Jackson and she told of a Gulf shores nursing home that evacuated to the Jackson area.  Evidently they always evacuated their residents to a church camp there and has done so for a number of years without incicdents.  

    Camps have a big rooms, cots, air conditioning, cooking facilities, showers, toilets- so this makes sense.  BUT Jackson area was without power for 2 days and it got hot and there wasn't enough fuel for generators.  So they called the red cross and were turned away because they weren't a FEMA approved shelter.  And they called another state aid group and were turned away for lack of FEMA approval as a shelter.  

    Old people began to die and suffer in the days without power.  Finally they went to a local sheriff- a good old boy named (I think- McKinnon) who she says had been in office for 20 plus years.  When he got the call- he sent out a deputy, who saw the abysmal conditions and called in the sherriff and the coronor (the medical personnel he had direct control of).  This sheriff got people moved- sister says many are now in the University hospital recovering.  There were deaths though.  Everyone thinks the sheriff is a hero locally, though.

    It is a bad situation even if you got evacuated in the whole area.  And red tape helped kill those people.  SO MUCH FOR THE INDEPENDENT ACTIONS OF THE RESOURCEFUL.  We can't outsource this essential government service.

    Sister is a very reliable source, but I don't have the specific name of the sheriff and the camp.  I tried to find the story on the internets, but like hundreds, it just isn't there.  

    by murrayewv on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:41:35 AM PDT

    •  Lakeland Baptist Church

      in Jackson, MS (actually Brandon city address) evidently has two convalescent homes in their gym .... anyone near Jackson who could check on which homes and how many are there?   I got this news from my ULTRA right-wing koolaid swallowing mother-in-law .... as she called me from a football game in their 36' motor home at MS State ..... what a christian!
      <snark>

      by bobnbob on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:09:53 AM PDT

  •  You know

    that's a parallel that hadn't occurred to me before: all that screaming about Terri Schiavo's horrible death from the fundy-nuts: it is being experienced on a conscious-level by hundreds of thousands of Gulf Residents while Bush's gov't (the one so concerned they passed a law about Terri S.) just stands by.

    Wonder when we'll see the "cresent city laws" passed in a midnight session of Congress?

    by a gilas girl on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 10:10:10 AM PDT

•  how many times

  have we all thought we've heard it all?  Just when we think it just can't get any worse, we get broadsided by incomprehensible inaction that has us believing nothing will ever will bring our humanity back.

  This diary was a lot of work and as others have pointed out about our seniors, out of sight, out of mind.  I know we all pray that those people were evacuated or otherwise provided for.

  We Need REGIME CHANGE

  by Sally in SF on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:20:26 PM PDT

•  Really great job!

  I doubt if you could find this information proffered by any government agency. You certainly won't find ANYTHING resembling an offer of help. We need more of this kind of thing.

  I wonder how many beds Freeperville have donated to the Katrina victims?

  by CanisMaximus on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:22:10 PM PDT

•  Heartbreaking

  my grandmother spent the last few years in a nursing home..this is so thoughtful of you to post and the research is amazing.  I am really hoping these people were evacuated before it hit. It was expected to be a direct hit with a cat 5..they had to have known there would be no survivors...it this wasn't done I would point the blame on the local officals. Sorry..but there would be no doubt about it.

  by Chamonix on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:23:00 PM PDT

  •  Blame the local officials -

    I have no problem with that in this case.  Who declares a 'mandatory evacuation' but makes no effort to help those who clearly can't get out of bed, let alone out of town?  Maybe nursing homes were supposed to come up with their own evacuation plans?  I guess it's just one more question we need eventually answered.

    by k2winters on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:30:25 PM PDT

    •  If they were NOT moved out of that city

      that should be a criminal offense. Sorry..but leaving them would have been a death sentence. I draw the line there and hold the officals responsible. Although the hospitals were full. The whole thing is FUCKED UP>

      by Chamonix on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:02:53 AM PDT

      •  Yup.

        All the municipal governments were clearly overwhelmed. The states seemed to have been overwhelmed but at least were scrambling.  But the federal government?  What possible excuse can there be for letting so many people die?  The buck has got to stop there.  The buck stops with Bush.

        by k2winters on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 01:06:47 AM PDT

    •  NOT entirely local officials

      Actually, yes, nursing homes should have their own evacuation plans. As should hospitals, if they believe it will be necessary (not just able to go up to higher floors, aka "evacuate up" like the hotels did).

      My parents live on the Davis Islands in Tampa Bay. Last year, when Hurricane Charley was predicted to head up the middle of Tampa Bay, they left in the mandatory evacuation of the Islands.

      But there are a couple of assisted living facilities, and Tampa General Hospital, also on the Islands. There were many, many more nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the low-lying areas on the mainland that also were expected to be under 15 feet of water.

      I know for a fact that the hospital's only plan was to "evacuate up." I don't know about the other facilities. But I do know that there were so many homes just on the island that there was no "home check" to make sure that every heeded the evacuation order. If the facility doesn't have AND EXECUTE a plan when the warning comes, there aren't enough local workers (especially not enough who are not busy evacuating their own families) to knock on every door and see if they are leaving or need any help. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities (and hospitals) don't have a lot of extra workers standing around to help move all the patients.

      My parents left for Charley and stayed with relatives about 20 mi north. It was so much work to do, and so exhausting (and my father is bedridden, with my 80-year-old mom as his caregiver), that they just decided to "put their trust in God" and stay home to ride out the storms that came after that. They were about four days without power, water, telephone, or any ability to get out to get supplies, and we are all thankful that they were spared.

      But I'll bet if Charley had hit Tampa Bay, Jeb Bush's connections would have gotten him a better response than Louisiana's.
      

      by Ducktape on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:41:12 AM PDT

      •  absolutely

        living here in tampa, any time any of my neighbors or fellow tampaians (usually right wingers) say anything about "well they didn't leave" .... I ask them if they left last year?  how many times?  did they board up their windows?    I didn't and the wood that I stood in line for is still lying on the floor of my garage, uncut,.  In fact, we just used about six sheets of the plywood to cut out wood to make skim boards with the youth at our church.  Yeah, I can completely understand people not leaving ....

        by bobnbob on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:13:46 AM PDT

    •  Most health care facilities

      have drills and a place to evacute to set up.  But, getting out in time with the frail elderly must have been very difficult.  And once the power went out and the waters rose- it became much worse.

      by murrayewv on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:18:40 AM PDT

    •  Nursing homes

      as a matter of law, I believe, are required to have evacuation plans, especially if they lie in flood plains (which any nursing home in NOLA, surely must).  It is part of their accredidation, I believe.  Am speaking here from memory of my years working in a hospital on the Ft. Lauderdale coast: evacuation plans were checked every time there was a JCAHO inspection. So, some things could be misrecollected.  Of course, this was pre-W America, in the days when we still had regulations and officials actually paid attention to them.  Don't know if that's been changed since then.

      by a gilas girl on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 10:15:35 AM PDT

    •  governor blanco asked for 5 million and didn't

      get it way in advance for just this thing. put the blame right where it belongs on george w. bush.

      by stodghie on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:44:48 PM PDT

•  Great Work!! (n/t)

  by khloemi on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:26:31 PM PDT

•  The Link to This Diary

  should be sent to investigative reporters at all major newspapers.

  by Patricia Taylor on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:33:37 PM PDT

  •  I sent the link to this diary

    in an email to

    Manuel Roig-Franzia,
    National staff writer/Miami bureau
    Washington Post

    He co-wrote an excellent article on the federal blame game (blaming state and local officials) in today's WaPo entitled

    Many Evacuated, but Thousands Still Waiting
    White House Shifts Blame to State and Local Officials

    Reporters should check these nursing homes out to see if the patients have been evacuated.

    by Patricia Taylor on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:48:48 PM PDT

    •  Thanks (nt)

      by Addison on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:51:28 PM PDT

•  Recommended

  because all I can think of looking at this is my father in a nursing home/rehab facility, flat on his back with a broken neck, and what if he had had to endure the likes of this?

  by Hastur on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:36:41 PM PDT

•  I'm not sure how she knew this

  and it might not even be true but my mother-in-law told me two stories tonight and one was about a nursing home where all 80 residents were found dead.

  One thing though - a lot of people don't know the difference between an assisted living facility and a nursing home. So it may have been either one.

  by bliss149 on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:56:35 PM PDT

  •  I heard the same rumor...

    
    and that the staff had fled and abandoned the residents.

    by ericy on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:05:36 AM PDT

•  With the Republican attitude to Social Security

  why would they rush in to save the elderly?

  by peeder on Sat Sep 03, 2005 at 11:59:11 PM PDT

  •  Please stand up straight

    While the Kossarian Medal Of Speech is pinned under your left shoulder.

    See that image at the top of the story?  That's precisely what those Republican pigs want to do to our seniors.

    Left to rot, the end of your life a misery--after all that you've done--because in Republican America, without money, you are nothing.  Just rot and die quickly so you'll stop leaching on the state, senior.

    by paradox on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:08:58 AM PDT

•  "Honor thy father

  and thy mother."  I never thought I'd say this, but suddenly I wish Bush would NOT separate his religion from his day-to-day decisions.

  So much for The Greatest Generation.

  by nape on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:17:03 AM PDT

•  31 dead in nursing home

  St Bernard Parish

  I think I did the link right.  scroll up or down just a bit in case I goofed.

  by Crazycajun on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:25:55 AM PDT

  •  St. Rita's Nursing Home

    in Poydras, St. Bernard Parish. Address: 1422 E La 46. Google Map link

    by Mike Doughney on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:31:58 AM PDT

    •  Does ANYBODY know why

      ..the owner refused to evacuate St. Rita's?

      This is what I've been reading in the NY Times and elsewhere.

      NY Times

      Also, Mr. Broussard (interviewed on MTP) said his coworker's mother drowned on Friday night after asking to be evacuated for days. The articles say the St. Rita's patients drowned on Monday.

      Thanks for any info.

      -------------------------------------------

      Someone left the cake out in the rain. - Jimmy Webb

      by eecee on Wed Sep 07, 2005 at 12:09:39 AM PDT

      •  I think she was not in St. Rita's

        Contrary to my statement in the update, I think she may have been somewhere else.  I'm not sure.

        That NY Times article mentions that other nursing homes in St. Bernards Parish were evacuated -- I'm not sure why the staff abandoned the elders in St. Ritas.

        by Chance the gardener on Thu Sep 08, 2005 at 10:12:57 AM PDT

•  Video of MAISON HOSPITALIERE

  Thanks to Rusty at the Majority Report Radio blog. The Austrailian news footage is split. Maison Hospitaliere, 4 days after the hurricane struck, and it's evacuation is in the second half.

  http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~falluga/New%20track%201.wmv

  http://www.members.iinet.net.au/~falluga/New%20track%202.wmv

  by cat chew on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:52:43 AM PDT

  •  The footage

    Credit where credit's due. Alistair Leithead is from the BBC and the footage was orginally shown here. He and a small team have been in NOLA since before the hurricane hit with link equipment that enabled them to broadcast live vrtually throughout. Other BBC crews and the main team are along the coast towards Biloxi.

    by londonbear on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:31:11 AM PDT

    •  Thanks for the information

      I didn't know.

      by cat chew on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 10:22:05 AM PDT

•  Actual Research

  We need more diaries like this one. Great work!

  by FrostyKotex on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 01:20:49 AM PDT

•  What powerfull images.

  Youve brought it all home. Thank you for taking the time and effort to research this. I hope those who can only think of poor black people as looters and rapists could see that it was poor black people who tried to save, who cried with grief, and who had to watch members of our greatest generation be left to die.

  by Thirsty on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 01:39:20 AM PDT

•  The AA woman in the photo is Terri Jones

  She is in another photo in an article by salon.com, http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/03/katrina_stories/index.html

  The photos of her inspired my own diary, "Jesus would be proud", http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/55255/91031

  by roonie on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 02:53:34 AM PDT

  •  Go Terri!

    I knew I'd seen her someplace else... god bless.

    by magpie02141 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:33:42 AM PDT

•  George?

  George W. Bush, did you write this diary?

  I assumed by the name that GWB wrote this...I mean, Chance the Gardener...ie...Chauncy Gardener.  It's quite obvious that the Bush administration pretty much wrote the screenplay for Being There 2, if any Hollywood producer wanted to tackle such a project.

  by Lost in Korea on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:12:54 AM PDT

  •  From what I remember of the movie

    Chauncy was a compassionate being, just did not have it together.

    You sure you want to compare Chauncy and W?

    Culture of life?

    How many dead in Iraq for a forced war?
    How many dead in NO while W was golfing, playing guitar and eating cake?

    BTW, was that Peter Sellers last movie?

    by SwingVoter on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:36:11 AM PDT

    •  No...

      in the movie, Chauncey was autistic, if anything else (no, I don't know much about autism, but Peter Sellers played him as neutrally and unemotionally as possible). He had not emotion to display. He was a gardener, and he knew how to talk about gardening. He didn't understand metaphor or nuance.

      by Skubwa on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 09:12:04 AM PDT

•  Today is dKos Google Earth Day

  I don't know how to use it, but you younger kids do.  Why don't you do diaries documenting hot spots?  Send them to the Press?  Make their job easier for them?

  Meanwhile ... this diary:

  Olbermann
  Aaron Brown
  Geraldo Rivera (jeez, who thought I'd be redeeming him)

  Air America too.

  by Ptolemy on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:29:49 AM PDT

  •  I can't figure out how to post Google Earth images

    How do you put images in a diary?

    Tulane Hospital and Cancer Center don't look so good.

    by Ptolemy on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:31:52 AM PDT

    •  Print screen

      On windows ctrl-prt sc will save whatever's on your screen onto the clipboard, which you can then paste into Paint or whatever graphics program you have, then crop and resize as needed, then save as jpg. Host on imageshack and post with img src tag.

      Doing it on a Mac is about the same, but it's been awhile so I don't remember the keystroke.

      by George on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:57:09 AM PDT

      •  Command-Shift-3 n/t

        by raines on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:11:00 AM PDT

•  Evacuation Doesn't End the Problems

  I've worked as a resident advocate in nursing homes, and half of all residents these days are very severely impaired -- they usually have dementia on top of physical disabilities (some of the rest may be in rehab after a hip replacement, stroke, etc.). Arrangements have to be made to send them places with medical care and 24-hour supervision. The Superdome would be sadly inadequate, as it was even for healthy younger adults.

  It's very  hard to evacuate such a group of residents safely. Given the known FUBARs with evacuating people before the hurricane, a lot of residents were probably trapped.

  Sadly, even a "safe" evacuation doesn't end well for many residents. When Grand Forks, ND flooded in 1997 and nursing homes had to be evacuated under duress. A year later, half the evacuated residents of one home had died. It's speculated they died from several causes, including stress and respiratory infections.

  Unfortunately, I think it's too much to hope that anyone in charge has paid special attention to nursing homes in the New Orleans area, and there will probably be a staggering death toll of these most vulnerable adults.

  by bramish on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:59:37 AM PDT

•  Thank You

  I've been worried about people in facilities like this since the posting from the Times-Picayune forums went up trying to get someone to rescue people who could not get up to their roofs to signal for help or walk out.

  If these people have been left, our shame will, and should, be boundless.

  by garbo on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:13:14 AM PDT

  •  there will never be an end to america's shame.

    by stodghie on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:42:54 PM PDT

•  Bad News About Nursing Home in St, Bernard Parish

  Times-Picayune
  Saturday, September 03, 2005

  St. Bernard rescuers find horrific sites
  31 dead in nursing home; man found with dead family
  

  By Paul Rioux and Manuel Torres
  St. Bernard bureau

  As the last of the stranded St. Bernard Parish residents were rescued and evacuated, parish officials on Saturday turned their attention to recovering bodies, draining water and contaminated muck from the area, and dealing with looters and other criminals who Sheriff Jack Stephens said would be shot if encountered by police.

  Finally reaching areas that had been rendered inaccessible by as much as 12 feet of water, rescuers found horrific sites, including a nursing home where 31 residents were dead and a man who spent days in the attic with members of his family, all of whom were dead.

  Parish officials estimated that more than 6,000 people had been evacuated from St. Bernard since rescue efforts began Tuesday. Several hundred remain in the parish, not all of them law-abiding, officials said.

  ...

  by Darksyde888 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:19:48 AM PDT

  •  St. Bernard officials relying on themselves...

    I also found this article... it looks like the folks from St. Bernard Parish had no Federal help... they were helped by Canadian search and rescue teams however.

    I would like to give thanks to the people of Canada- we, the people of the United States are deeply indebted to you.

    St. Bernard officials relying on themselves, volunteers
    By Jan Moller
    Capital Bureau

    ...

    Although floodwaters have receded more than 15 feet and the pace of the evacuation slowed considerably Saturday in St. Bernard Parish as most of those who stayed have either perished or been brought to safety, search teams were still finding people who had remained in their homes.

    "I've got 122,000 people in my district, and everybody's been affected (by Hurricane Katrina)," said state Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Chalmette, who has been helping with rescue efforts since the winds first began waning Monday afternoon.

    ...

    Search teams from as far away as Canada ride air boats through receding waters in a parish that's become a virtual ghost town except for the rescue workers. They conduct house-to-house searches for anyone who might still be alive.

    ...

    While several days passed with little or no federal assistance, state and local officials set up their own improvised search-and-rescue operations, with the Mississippi River serving as a lifeline to safety for residents in the close-knit parish who rode out Katrina.

    ...

    And the local prison was turned into a hospital until the wounded and sick could be flown to safety, according to Boasso.

    While Navy helicopters were shuttling people to hospitals who needed medical care, local officials are angry at the slow pace of the federal government's relief efforts.

    "We never had any communication from anybody," said Parish President Henry P. Rodriguez. "Anything that has been done in St. Bernard has been done by local people.We never had any goddamned help."

    by Darksyde888 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:34:40 AM PDT

  •  Maybe if enough people

    email this story to CNN, they'll cover it?  

    by lightiris on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:36:54 AM PDT

    •  We MUST spend part of our time doing this

      Here's a link, from a conservative site (irony)

      Conservative Contact List

      It has all a zillion contacts, including RADIO RADIO RADIO

      by potato on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:10:29 PM PDT

  •  Vancouver USAR report from St. Bernard Parish

    September 2: St. Bernard Parish, LA (1200h PDT)

    "We want to assure everyone back home that we are safe, and in good spirits. It's a dangerous situation, but that's why we were deployed here, and that's what we train for ...

    "Yesterday we were not able to get in the field, because they stopped all rescue operations. We'd been going for 24 hours straight at that time, so it gave us a chance to catch up on some rest, set up base camp, and work on equipment.

    "Today at 0900h the team moved to the St. Bernard Parish region* and will be in charge of all rescue efforts in the area. We have to go in by river barge.

    "We are working under Troop B of the Louisiana State Police. It's absolute pandemonium... thousands of people stranded or displaced ... the death toll is rising dramatically.

    "Our focus for the next couple of days will be looking for displaced people. We are launching four watercraft now. We'll work 12-hour shifts starting at 0600h. There's a curfew at night so we will cease all night-time operations at 1800h.

    "We are the first and only USAR team so far deployed in this area and are in operations mode now. We have set up a command centre in an elementary school in St. John Parish but are rescuing in St. Bernard.

    "This area took a direct hit ... so there's no power, water or food.

    "Our ability to communicate is still intermittent. Most cell phones towers are down, and we are still relying on MCI and their trailer.

    "We have armed officers with us for security reasons. It's not a high-risk area that we're working in right now, but our main focus is the safety of the team. Our priority is not to put our people into an area that could be confrontational.

    "There is lots of police protection for us, but what they don't have is the expertise as far as rescue. They're more than thankful that we're here.

    "I just want to say the City of Vancouver should be proud of the guys who are here. They are all volunteers, all true professionals. I am very proud of our team's readiness and commitment."

    - Tim Armstrong, Team Leader Vancouver Urban Search and Rescue Team

    (* Editors note -- St. Bernard Parish has a population of about 66,000 and is located in southeastern Louisiana, approximately 20 miles east of New Orleans. Approximately two-thirds of the Parish is surrounded by water and consists primarily of marshlands formed by the Mississippi River Delta.)

    by Darksyde888 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:37:22 AM PDT

    •  31 found dead in one Nursing Home in

      St. Bernard Parish:

      
      St. BERNARD RESCUERS FIND HORRIFIC SITES

      31 dead in nursing home; man found with dead family

      By Paul Rioux and Manuel Torres
      St. Bernard bureau

      As the last of the stranded St. Bernard Parish residents were rescued and evacuated, parish officials on Saturday turned their attention to recovering bodies, draining water and contaminated muck from the area, and dealing with looters and other criminals who Sheriff Jack Stephens said would be shot if encountered by police.

      Finally reaching areas that had been rendered inaccessible by as much as 12 feet of water, rescuers found horrific sites, including a nursing home where 31 residents were dead and a man who spent days in the attic with members of his family, all of whom were dead.

      The link can be found here.

      by ryder92111 on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:06:58 AM PDT

  •  Up on the roof

    Bush's next photo op:  He should stand on the roof of this nursing home, plugging his social security plan.

    by nape on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 10:07:21 AM PDT

•  My niece has a friend whose 80-year old mother

  (very active woman in her church and community) lives in NO and works in a nursing home. They evacuated to Virginia before the storm and she (along with many workers) went along with them.  The ordeal seams to have had an extremely adverse effect on this octogenarian.  Last time her daughter spoke to her she didn't seem to know that she was not in NO.  Spoke of having to go pick up her car and do other errands, choir rehearsal, and things she usually did.  She'll probably be a patient rather than a worker when/if she ever gets back.  Another sad story of the Katrina aftermath.

  by Aint Supposed to Die a Natural Death on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:22:38 AM PDT

  •  yes, shocks can do a lot to seniors

    I have a friend whose father was in good health, until their grand-child drowned, (not in NO), and he lost his health and died soon afterwards.  

    by non cest non on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:04:26 AM PDT

•  Brilliant job

  That is using modern technology to really perform a service. When the final stories start coming out, I don't know if we'll be prepared for what we'll hear. How could we be?

  by mrblifil on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 05:48:58 AM PDT

•  Breaking: stranded refugee

   A fellow chatter friend of ours from Yahoo chat is stranded in detoriting conditions. FEMA won't allow then to leave and he is desperate. There is a phone conservation posted from this morning. He is at a shelter here:

   Harry truman school. 5417 Ehret Road Marrero, LA 70072 Jefferson County Phone: [phone] roasted

  There is a thread here:

  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4624018

  Audio file of phone call here:
  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4624018#4624370

  by roastedcoyote on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:37:07 AM PDT

•  The power of the blogger...

  ...sitting in their home or office or library or Net cafe typing up the most powerful stories. Kudos to you on this wonderful effort, Chance.

  Magnificent work. Heartrending to consider. I do pray the nursing homes had been evacuated prior Katrina's arrival.

  Thank you for a great diary.

  by ilona on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:38:45 AM PDT

•  One Stellar Diary- Recommend

  Something local officials and the press should have done is target for planned evacuation the most vulnerable concentrations of people including projects and hospitals.

  We just cannot abandon people during disasters. All  the great achievements of this country are blighted by what happened here.

  by hmbnancy on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:39:44 AM PDT

•  I HAVE NEVER SHOOK SO MUCH IN MY LIFE

  I doubt if I can l type without mistakes -- you HAVE to see Tim Russett's interview with the sheriff or whatever of Jefferson Parish:

  He started out talking about how hard it was to get any assistance from FEMA -- how they WOULDN'T let WalMart deliver truckloads of water, how they WOULDN'T let the CoastGuard ship loaded supplies, how the Parish was told "We are coming, we are coming, we are coming... soon"
  The sheriff and his employees rebuilt their OWN broken levee -- it took them 2-3 24 hour days, but the did it.  FEMA cut their communication lines so he repaired them and put guards there so FEMA couldn't do it again...WTF?????

  BUT THIS IS WHAT GOT ME:  The sheriff said that one of his worker's mother was in a nursing home and called him everyday to ask "when are they coming to get me" and he always replied "soon, mama, soon."  

  By this time in the interview, the sheriff was BALLING on MTP while saying "His mama called everyday and asked "are they coming today? She called on Tuesday, she called on WEd, she called on Thursday, she called on Friday.....   then she drowned."  The sheiff was crying and Tim didn't know what to say except "We'll let you get control..."

  He then went to talk to Haley Barbour of MS and during his conversation about bad lower MS was, I swear he sounded like he was TRYING to cry too.

  If you missed MTP this morning, BE SURE TO SEE IT WHEN IT'S REPEATED.

  DAMN, SHIT, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.
  

  by Southern Bird on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 07:52:41 AM PDT

•  Wow. Great job.

  Citizen journalism/action on display.  Makes me feel a little ashamed that all I've done for the last few days is get educated/ push information to others and get mad as f*ckin' hell.

  by spatial indifference on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:08:07 AM PDT

•  I'm racking my brain

  trying to figure out how this could have happened.  The only thing I can come up with is that the breaching of the levee did catch everyone off guard.  They really did not "plan" for the catastrophic effects, and therefore had no response to a flooded city with immobile people in nursing homes.  They had computer simulations, so they anticipated it, hoped it wouldn't happen, but did not "plan" for it.

  That's what it comes down to.  Talk about "hope is not a strategy for action."

  by MoronMike on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:20:50 AM PDT

•  As a Geographer in a Florida State Agency

  This is exactly the type of requests we got from the EOCs during last year's 4 hurricanes.

  One tip, since most street signs get blown off. And rescuers are from out of the area. You need to identify the homes with Lat/Long and the type of directions most geographers loathe (past the big oak, near the walgreens to the left of the fork in the road).

  This work could be invaluable to the rescue effort, Great Job!

  by House on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:47:38 AM PDT

•  Thanks. That specifically rips my civil svc heart

  I work for the feds in a city that's receiving many thousands of evacuees, specifically in an area where we've been expecting to take over the care of many of these people (the nursing home patients).  

  My supervisor and our group have gotten everything together to handle a good chunk of them.  No one above the level of our facility has communicated jack about how to help these folks.  

  Sorry I'm not willing to be more specific.

  by Servetus on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:59:34 AM PDT

  •  And by the way, you picked the high ground.

    I'm sure that as you go east, it gets bleaker.

    by Servetus on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 09:01:46 AM PDT

•  Making Saddam look like a good man

  one point that to my amazement doesn't seem to have been made yet is that ANYWHERE else in the world the elderly and/or the sick would have been THE FIRST to be evactuated. In the US, the world learns recoiling in horror, they are left to die. This makes Saddam look like a good man.

  by zepovo on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 09:05:35 AM PDT

•  This puts you right up there

  with the finest detectives and journalists I've ever seen.

  Simply outstanding work - and a topic too sad for words.

  by RubDMC on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 09:46:16 AM PDT

•  I Hope New Readers Will Continue to Recommend

  this diary to keep it upthread so that reporters and government people may see it and use it as a resource.

  I hope SOMEONE in rescue and relief efforts is going down this list and checking on these facilities to see if people inside need help.

  by Patricia Taylor on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 10:18:59 AM PDT

•  my god

  what a diary. you are a beautiful person.

  by heterodoxy on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 10:21:44 AM PDT

•  NPR story on evacuation

  of a retirement home for veterans in Gulfport, MI...they were relocated to D.C.

  NPR

  by willowby on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 11:41:11 AM PDT

•  I just sent link to this diary to the Coast Guard

  After seeing Aaron Broussard on MTP this morning and reading this diary, I had to do something - I can't just sit here in the Chicago area and watch.

  I went to the Coast Guard's website and called them and they were very nice but not in a position to do anything directly.  I did, however, reach a very nice Lt. who let me send him a personal email (see below) and he promised to forward it to someone in charge in District 8 who may be able to do something.  Pray that it works

  Lt. Ellis, thank you so much for taking my call and agreeing to forward this information to your contacts in District 8.  

  My heart is breaking for the people in NO and I'm truly concerned that there are many people dying as I write this note.  I've seen nothing on the news or in the news about nursing homes being evacuated in the most stricken areas of New Orleans.  The Coast Guard has been doing a wonderful job of finding people on rooftops and getting them out.   Can you see that help is given to the unfortunate people in the nursing homes.

  Here is a link to a blog site (Daily Kos - it safe to link to) where someone has put together locations of many of the flooded nursing homes in the area.

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/4/11430/17556

  If your wonderful rescuers could check them out I would be so thankful!
  

  by CyberDem on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 12:02:09 PM PDT

•  There are no words...

  I have taken time out from my career to care for my elderly parents. My father is a double amputee diabetic in the final phase of Congestive Heart Failure and my mother was stricken with motor nueron disease last fall.

  As I have watched the pictures from NOLA and the convention center I have been perhaps more attuned to seeing the wheel chairs, oxygen concentrators, the dying diabetics, the elderly on gurnies than most.

  I can not tell you how difficult it is in the best of times it is to transfer them to get to doctors and hospitals, muchless in a hurricane. It has really destroyed me to hear the stories of men coming up to reporters pleading with them to help rescue their invalid parents, "there half a mile away at a gas station... he's a diabetic and needs insulin."

  Even in the best of times the elderly are forgotten at best and preyed upon at worst. I'm sure that NOLA will be awash in their bodies and it breaks my heart.

  CNN just aired the clip but cut out all of Aaron Broussard's remarks about FEMA.

  Here is a working link for his full remarks as well as Chertoff's interview:

  http://dissent.blogspot.com/#112584694461770423

  What we know now is:

  1. The order to send in the National Guard was not given until 72 hours after the levees had broken.

  2. FEMA officials prevented a five mile long convoy of small rescue craft from entering the area. The official that turned them back said that "they would not be needed.

  3. FEMA prevented the Red Cross from entering New Orleans to provide food and water because it was feared that it would encourage people to stay in the city.

  4. FEMA turned back three trucks full of water that had been sent a week ago by Walmart because they said it would not be needed.

  5. FEMA prevented the Coast Guard from giving 1000 gallons of diesel fuel that the Coast Guard was ready to off load to them. This was fuel that was needed for the emergency generators at the cities hospitals.

  6. FEMA cut the emergency communication lines for the city's law enforcement and emergency personnel.

  All of this goes beyond incompetence, it is criminal negligence that demands criminal action to be taken against those officials who are responsible for this. They are responsible for untold deaths.

  by Flint on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 01:01:01 PM PDT

  •  My parents too

    The five siblings in my family have spent the last year obtaining greater and greater levels of care for our parents (Dad stage 6 Alzheimer's, Mom now very disabled from stroke).  I too was stricken by the echoes of my parents in the stories of elderly victims of this horror.  My mom looked much like that lady in the picture just from the trauma of being moved to an excellent nursing home that could give her the 24-hr medical attention she needs.  I am sure that she wouldn't have withstood the kind of upheaval that even the best evacuation in NO would have represented.  This has made me consider what I can do to get involved in disaster planning for our local predicted cataclysm, a large earthquake.

    by cafl on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 01:45:32 PM PDT

  •  my bedridden mom

    I have had uneasy sleep all week worrying about how I would evacuate my mom if I had to.

    After what we have been through together, I couldn't bear to leave her behind.

    My heart breaks for all those people who stayed b/c they didn't want to abandon older, frailer friends and relatives.

    Mom is a right AKA and has been bedbound for a year and a half.  She cannot even sit up in a wheelchair without great pain.  I just can't imagine what we would do.  this is my worst nightmare.

    by TrueBlueMajority on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 02:14:34 PM PDT

  •  CNN cut the FEMA remarks out?

    what did they leave in?

    by potato on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 03:12:51 PM PDT

•  Great diary,

  Chance.  Good work.  

  by Caldonia on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 02:37:35 PM PDT

•  that picture makes me want to march & scream

  "get those assholes out of our house." i went to see my step dad today. I cleaned the house, did his shopping, gave him my older stereo, and even my cherished country and western cds. he is housebound now and no chemotherapy. i consider it an honor to do the right thing. he hasn't always been lovable but the right thing is the right thing. now my question is why in the fuck can't those damn rethugs get that. and rethugs, please stop using god's name for your evil work.

  by stodghie on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:37:47 PM PDT

•  greatest diary ever

  chance, i wanted to say this to you before this scrolls off.

  by heterodoxy on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:38:39 PM PDT

  •  namaste

    by Chance the gardener on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 04:40:45 PM PDT

•  From the Chicago Tribune today:

  Navy ship nearby underused: Craft with food, water, doctors needed orders

  ON THE USS BATAAN -- While federal and state emergency planners scramble to get more military relief to Gulf Coast communities stricken by Hurricane Katrina, a massive naval goodwill station has been cruising offshore, underused and waiting for a larger role in the effort.

  The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore.

  The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents.

  But now the Bataan's hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty. A good share of its 1,200 sailors could also go ashore to help with the relief effort, but they haven't been asked. The Bataan has been in the stricken region the longest of any military unit, but federal authorities have yet to fully utilize the ship.

  by Halcyon on Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 06:12:15 PM PDT