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Nursing homes should be safe
havens, not death traps
By Randah Griffiths
October 19, 2005 | When the day comes
to choose a facility for aging parents to reside in,
there are many amenities to consider. We all want to
make sure our loved ones are in a clean, sterile environment
with caring staff members and social programs. But should
safety even be a question? Wouldn't you like to think
that though they may differ in many ways, all nursing
homes must meet certain safety criteria?
Recent nursing home tragedies prove otherwise. During
the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 34 senior citizens of
St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish of New
Orleans were drowned. The owners were charged with 34
counts of negligent homicide. Salvador and Mable Mangano
could have called ambulances to transport patients.
They even turned down an offer to use a bus to evacuate
the facility. What went wrong?
Nursing home fires in 2003 claimed 15 people in Nashville,
Tenn. and 16 people in Hartford, Conn. Firefighters
believe that if these two facilities had been equipped
with sprinkler systems, most of the fatalities could
have been prevented.
Only 12 states currently require older nursing homes
to update their safety features by installing sprinklers.
Most states only set that requirement for new facilities.
Yet there are no recorded fire-related fatalities in
nursing homes that have sprinkler systems. Congress
will not pass laws requiring all nursing homes to be
equipped with sprinklers because many would simply go
out of business, not being able to afford the cost involved
in updating safety features. But can't we offer federal
funding or loans to those nursing homes that can't afford
sprinkler systems? How many more people have to die
in nursing home fires before we will open our eyes to
see that it is a problem?
It is estimated by the National Center for Health
Statistics that 1.6 million Americans live in nursing
homes today. Most of them are feeble, vulnerable citizens.
Most cannot save themselves. Sprinklers would help to
extinguish flames long enough for these people to be
rescued.
Senior citizens ought to be important enough to us
that we have their safety at heart. Elderly people deserve
a quality of life that makes them feel secure. Would
we feel safe and comforted being in a four-story building
with several hundred other patients, knowing there were
no sprinklers and possibly no fire alarms? Nursing homes
can be death traps. Though there are usually emergency
plans, the patients are not prepared for what will happen
in the event of a catastrophe. It must be sheer panic
for those patients who are immobile, knowing that the
home is burning down and they just have to sit and wait
for someone to come pull them to safety. What a torturous
way to die.
Most nursing home residents have lived full lives.
They've contributed to society. They've been our teachers,
religious leader, our role models. They're our parents,
our neighbors, our colleagues and our friends. Doesn't
it seem a tragic waste that some have died because of
the lack of simple safety equipment?
Someday many of us will end up in nursing homes. That's
reality. We'll want to be taken care of. We'll want
to know that we're safe. But are we doing everything
we can to make sure the elderly members of society are
protected? Let's pass the laws necessary to ensure that
nursing homes are safe havens. We'll not only be taking
care of the elderly now, but we'll also be watching
out for ourselves. We shouldn't allow another tragedy
to claim the lives of so many helpless victims.
NW
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