As Southern California braces for strong Santa Ana winds through Wednesday evening, nursing home associations say that wildfires have already significantly impacted long-term care facilities, with at least three being destroyed and evacuation efforts becoming complicated by ever-expanding evacuation zones.
Two skilled nursing facilities, The Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center and Two Palms Care Center, as well as an assisted living facility, The Terraces at Park Marino, burned down according to reports.
Late last week, more than 35 facilities were evacuated, the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Social Services said. Some residents were placed in nearby care facilities and hotels while hundreds of others were transported to public evacuation shelters, a report from LAist found.
Facilities are required to have a detailed disaster response plan in place, which includes evacuation protocols and procedures that ensure residents continue to receive care and support in safe locations, Corey Egel, director of public affairs for the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), told Skilled Nursing News.
“Emergency preparedness is a critical priority … CAHF is collaborating with members, local, and state partners to assist in these efforts,” said Egel. “While the situation remains dynamic, the implementation of these evacuation protocols aims to safeguard residents, and as far as we are aware at this time, have prevented injuries and deaths from occurring among this vulnerable population.”
However, nursing home clinicians remain concerned for residents, citing a shortage of essential supplies like gloves, respirators and incontinence products like absorbent pads at the Pasadena Civic Center – to which evacuees were initially relocated. The SNF residents were eventually transferred to medical facilities last Thursday amid coordination challenges, while assisted living evacuees were waiting longer for placement, according to LAist.
“Due to the immediate nature of the evacuations, significant challenges occurred for staff and the residents,” Egel told SNN. “During the initial evacuation, providers were limited to getting residents immediately out of the building. Activating mutual aid agreements for transfer were not achievable, and as a consequence, many of the residents were evacuated directly to hospitals with no staging areas while waiting to be placed.”
Community shelters weren’t open or ready to receive residents early last week, he said. In the proceeding days, facilities struggled to find placements for residents across L.A. County – many are still at hospitals awaiting movement to another skilled nursing facility.
“This is being complicated by ever-expanding evacuation zones, massive loss of utilities across the county, and staff losing their homes, creating a workforce shortage,” said Egel.
Nursing home residents were among at least 130,000 people to be evacuated as multiple wildfires spread across Los Angeles County. The two largest fires originating in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon have affected 23,713 acres and 14,117 acres, respectively.
While damage assessments are still underway for the Palisades and Eaton fires, it’s estimated that 12,300-plus structures were destroyed.
L.A. County’s Emergency Medical Services Agency is responsible for coordinating evacuations of most nursing homes and assisted living facilities, with the support of local health officials and the California Department of Public Health.
LeadingAge California has been working to help coordinate placements for residents of evacuated member communities in Southern California as well, and is accepting food, furniture and other emergency supplies, and donations to its Disaster Relief Funds to help support evacuated communities.
Companies featured in this article:
California Association of Health Facilities, LAist, LeadingAge California, Pasadena Park Healthcare & Wellness Center, The Terraces at Park Marino, Two Palms Care Center