In Nursing Home, a Fight Lost to Rising Waters
By GARDINER HARRIS
09/07/05 "New York Times" -- -- CHALMETTE, La., Sept. 6 - They nailed a table against one window, ran a heavy electric wheelchair with a table on top against another and pushed a couch against a door. These failed defenses are still in St. Rita's nursing home, as are at least 14 swollen, unrecognizable bodies.
St. Bernard Parish officials say that 32 of the home's roughly 60 residents died on Aug. 29, more than a week ago.
It is a measure of the enormity of the disaster that has struck southern Louisiana that no one has removed many of the bodies, and local officials say there are no immediate plans to do so. The flood victims still lie where they died - draped over a wheelchair, wrapped in a shower curtain, lying on a floor in several inches of muck.
The home, about 20 miles southeast of downtown New Orleans, is still surrounded by three feet of murky water. Eight vehicles are parked in front, covered in debris and mud.
Indeed, officials suspect that there may be hundreds of similar, though smaller scenes of death that will become apparent only after the water recedes and they are able to search every house in the region.
Many evacuees have told stories of near escapes, of busting out attic windows or axing through the roof to reach safety. The stories that will never be told are of those who tried and failed to make those escapes.
St. Rita's nursing home whispers this story.
Ricky Melerine, a St. Bernard Parish councilman, said the water in his area rose at least three feet from 10 to 10:15 that Monday morning. And it rose faster still after that.
Ronald Nunez, a local resident, said several men tried to save St. Rita's residents by floating some out on mattresses. Others were able to walk and float on their own to a nearby school, Mr. Nunez said.
And someone had time to put up a fight against the tide.
Nails were pounded through a table. Dressers were thrown against windows. Several electric wheelchairs were gathered near the front entrance, perhaps in hopes of evacuation. They simply ran out of time.
There are signs in the home that the water rose to the roof. Three inches of muck still cover the floors. Tadpoles wriggle in doorways. The stench is nauseating.
The story of St. Rita's leads locals here to voice the same frustrations they have about the entire disaster.
"Why didn't they evacuate?" Mr. Nunez asked. "Why?"
Mr. Nunez also said, with some bitterness, that his parish got only sporadic help from state and federal authorities.
St. Bernard's Parish has five major nursing homes with roughly 65 patients each, said Henry Rodriguez Jr., the parish president. There are another six smaller facilities, he said. Almost all but St. Rita's were evacuated before the storm.
Steve Kuiper, vice president of operations for Acadian Ambulance, said he was told that St. Rita's had an evacuation plan that depended on another nursing home. Acadian, by far the largest ambulance provider in the state, used helicopters to evacuate many of the parish's neediest medical cases after the storm hit. But Mr. Kuiper said he never heard from St. Rita's.
"They didn't think this would ever happen," Mr. Melerine said. "They just didn't evacuate."
The failure at St. Rita's is particularly difficult to explain. The home is in a depression in the ground. The nearby road, which was covered with four or five feet of water, sits at least five feet above the home's floor. The home appears in retrospect to be particularly vulnerable to flood. Efforts to reach its management late Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Military and private helicopters began ferrying people out of St. Bernard Parish almost as soon as the storm hit. The Coast Guard spent much of the day of the storm landing people on a berm above the Mississippi River near downtown Chalmette, which is some of the highest ground around.
Mr. Nunez said he helped establish a shelter there. Water was running so fast down the nearby road that it nearly swept some of those seeking shelter away. Mr. Nunez said he had to tie himself to a tractor to save some people from the current.
"We ran a little over 400 people through that camp," Mr. Nunez said.
Dozens of boats are still on the side of the road in and around Chalmette, most of them washed there by the storm, and others stranded there after use by rescuers.
Janie Fuller, an Acadian paramedic, helped deliver a baby in the town jail and then managed to get a helicopter to evacuate mother and child. Ms. Fuller got another woman out who seemed to be suffering internal bleeding by commandeering an air boat and then a pickup truck to get her to a landing zone for a National Guard helicopter.
Still, the parish is only now getting the full attention of the authorities, who initially focused on the tens of thousands stranded in the Superdome and the convention center in New Orleans. For parish residents, this is a badge of honor as well as a source of quiet anger.
As a result, there are myriad stories of heroism and rescues in St. Bernard Parish. But there is also St. Rita's.
"I just can't understand how you don't evacuate," Mr. Melerine said.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Link Here
09/07/05 "New York Times" -- -- CHALMETTE, La., Sept. 6 - They nailed a table against one window, ran a heavy electric wheelchair with a table on top against another and pushed a couch against a door. These failed defenses are still in St. Rita's nursing home, as are at least 14 swollen, unrecognizable bodies.
St. Bernard Parish officials say that 32 of the home's roughly 60 residents died on Aug. 29, more than a week ago.
It is a measure of the enormity of the disaster that has struck southern Louisiana that no one has removed many of the bodies, and local officials say there are no immediate plans to do so. The flood victims still lie where they died - draped over a wheelchair, wrapped in a shower curtain, lying on a floor in several inches of muck.
The home, about 20 miles southeast of downtown New Orleans, is still surrounded by three feet of murky water. Eight vehicles are parked in front, covered in debris and mud.
Indeed, officials suspect that there may be hundreds of similar, though smaller scenes of death that will become apparent only after the water recedes and they are able to search every house in the region.
Many evacuees have told stories of near escapes, of busting out attic windows or axing through the roof to reach safety. The stories that will never be told are of those who tried and failed to make those escapes.
St. Rita's nursing home whispers this story.
Ricky Melerine, a St. Bernard Parish councilman, said the water in his area rose at least three feet from 10 to 10:15 that Monday morning. And it rose faster still after that.
Ronald Nunez, a local resident, said several men tried to save St. Rita's residents by floating some out on mattresses. Others were able to walk and float on their own to a nearby school, Mr. Nunez said.
And someone had time to put up a fight against the tide.
Nails were pounded through a table. Dressers were thrown against windows. Several electric wheelchairs were gathered near the front entrance, perhaps in hopes of evacuation. They simply ran out of time.
There are signs in the home that the water rose to the roof. Three inches of muck still cover the floors. Tadpoles wriggle in doorways. The stench is nauseating.
The story of St. Rita's leads locals here to voice the same frustrations they have about the entire disaster.
"Why didn't they evacuate?" Mr. Nunez asked. "Why?"
Mr. Nunez also said, with some bitterness, that his parish got only sporadic help from state and federal authorities.
St. Bernard's Parish has five major nursing homes with roughly 65 patients each, said Henry Rodriguez Jr., the parish president. There are another six smaller facilities, he said. Almost all but St. Rita's were evacuated before the storm.
Steve Kuiper, vice president of operations for Acadian Ambulance, said he was told that St. Rita's had an evacuation plan that depended on another nursing home. Acadian, by far the largest ambulance provider in the state, used helicopters to evacuate many of the parish's neediest medical cases after the storm hit. But Mr. Kuiper said he never heard from St. Rita's.
"They didn't think this would ever happen," Mr. Melerine said. "They just didn't evacuate."
The failure at St. Rita's is particularly difficult to explain. The home is in a depression in the ground. The nearby road, which was covered with four or five feet of water, sits at least five feet above the home's floor. The home appears in retrospect to be particularly vulnerable to flood. Efforts to reach its management late Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Military and private helicopters began ferrying people out of St. Bernard Parish almost as soon as the storm hit. The Coast Guard spent much of the day of the storm landing people on a berm above the Mississippi River near downtown Chalmette, which is some of the highest ground around.
Mr. Nunez said he helped establish a shelter there. Water was running so fast down the nearby road that it nearly swept some of those seeking shelter away. Mr. Nunez said he had to tie himself to a tractor to save some people from the current.
"We ran a little over 400 people through that camp," Mr. Nunez said.
Dozens of boats are still on the side of the road in and around Chalmette, most of them washed there by the storm, and others stranded there after use by rescuers.
Janie Fuller, an Acadian paramedic, helped deliver a baby in the town jail and then managed to get a helicopter to evacuate mother and child. Ms. Fuller got another woman out who seemed to be suffering internal bleeding by commandeering an air boat and then a pickup truck to get her to a landing zone for a National Guard helicopter.
Still, the parish is only now getting the full attention of the authorities, who initially focused on the tens of thousands stranded in the Superdome and the convention center in New Orleans. For parish residents, this is a badge of honor as well as a source of quiet anger.
As a result, there are myriad stories of heroism and rescues in St. Bernard Parish. But there is also St. Rita's.
"I just can't understand how you don't evacuate," Mr. Melerine said.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 8:10 PM
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