Nursing Home Reported Respiratory Problems, Not Stifling Heat

HOLLYWOOD, FL — The Hollywood, Florida, nursing home that lost power during Hurricane Irma placed at least eight calls to 911 over a three-day period beginning on Sept. 11, one day after the hurricane passed through the Miami area. Frantic staffers made one call on each of the first two days but then made a flurry of six calls in the early-morning hours of the third day. Each call corresponded to a different elderly resident who was gasping for air, in some cases even turning blue, according to recordings of the calls released by Hollywood police on Monday.

Only one staff member could be heard on the recordings even mentioning that the facility's air-conditioning was not working properly, and none of the calls suggested a link among the mounting cases and the stifling conditions that are now suspected in the deaths of 14 residents.

By the third day — Wednesday, Sept. 13 — it was too late to stop the tragedy as it unfolded literally across the street from Memorial Regional Hospital. By day's end, some 158 patients had to be evacuated, many on stretchers or in wheelchairs.

"Investigators have now completed witness interviews related to the 9-1-1 calls and have determined that the audio can be released without jeopardizing the ongoing investigation," Hollywood spokespersons Raelin Storey and Joann Hussey said on Monday in releasing the recordings. (For more information on the Hollywood nursing home deaths and other Aventura-area stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Click here to listen to the 911 calls. The following is the chronology and a brief description of each of the calls:

1. 09/11/17 call received at 6:15 a.m. — A staff member describes an 81-year old resident with a respiratory problem on the second floor. The staff member instructs first responders to come through the front door because the facility is having difficulty with the side door. The staff member says nothing about the lack of air-conditioning.
2. 09/12/17 call received at 12:49 p.m. — This call describes a 93-year-old male resident who had a fever and was experiencing difficulty breathing.
3. 9/13/17 call received at 3 a.m. — This call references an 84-year-old female patient who was in cardiac arrest, "code blue" respiratory failure. This is the call that mentions the lack of air-conditioning. "We don't have any air-condition," the staff explained. "I saw her slouch over. I realized that she's not breathing so I checked her. She is just barely breathing and her fingers and around her mouth are slightly cyanotic and her fingers started to change color, slightly blue. We're doing CPR on her now because she is a full code patient. Her blood pressure is 111 over 68."
4. 9/13/17 call received at 4:05 a.m. — "I'm calling from Hollywood Hills Rehab ... Oh God," said a woman who identified herself as a nurse and who was struggling with the phone system. The call was garbled, but the woman said that a female patient's breathing was labored. "What a night," she added at one point. "She's labored breathing, distressed, about to code. She's in very labored breathing."
5. 9/13/17 call received at 5:36 a.m. — "I'm calling from Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center. I'm calling because a patient is currently in cardiac arrest," a staffer told the dispatcher. "The nurse is in the room now. He looks like he is in cardiac arrest. They are doing CPR now."
6. 9/13/17 call received at 6:15 a.m. — This time a staffer called for a female patient, and the staffer couldn't immediately find the age of the patient. A second person came on the line and identified the patient as a 70-year-old woman. "They say she is in distress. She's telling me she is in respiratory distress ... They have the crash cart there. They're working on her now as we speak."
7. 9/13/17 call received at 6:24 a.m. — A staffer calls about a 71-year-old female patient. "I have another patient that's in respiratory distress," the woman explains to the dispatcher. "She's not breathing. She's on oxygen at this moment." The dispatcher instructs the staff to have a defibrillator ready for emergency responders.
8. 9/13/17 call received at 6:33 a.m. — This call is for an 83-year-old female patient. "I have a patient coding ... on the second floor," a staffer said. "Respiratory distress." The dispatcher recognizes that first responders have already responded to a similar call from the facility. "You guys called already about this or is this a new call?" asks the dispatcher, to which the staff member responds: "It's a new call. It's for a different patient." The dispatcher asks whether they should send additional personnel. "You guys have a few other paramedics here so I'm not sure," replies the staffer.
9. The next call is not from the facility but rather Cliff Friedman of the Broward County Emergency Operations Center Health and Medical Desk. He is calling for additional first responders to be dispatched to an adjoining facility. "We've got a request from Larkin Community Hospital Behavioral Health Services in Hollywood. They're saying they're having issues with patients and there may be casualties," he tells a dispatcher. "They're requesting ambulance assistance." The dispatcher asks Friedman if police are needed, but Friedman is unable to provide a definitive answer. The dispatcher decides to send in police too. "The call that came in was a little daunting," Friedman acknowledged. "We got a call from them yesterday that we rerouted, and it looks like nothing, or it looks like they need more assistance. So that's the information we have right now."

The criminal investigation is focusing on what went wrong and who, if anyone, was to blame. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has called for a Senate committee investigation into the state’s certification process of the facility and the emergency preparedness plans at similar facilities.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott ordered state health officials and the Department of Elder Affairs to issue emergency rules to "keep Floridians safe in healthcare facilities during emergencies." He plans to "aggressively fight" to codify the requirement into law during the 2018 legislative session. Some families have already announced lawsuits against the facility.

Meanwhile Hollywood police are still appealing to family members of former residents to get in touch with investigators at 954.967.4411 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. At other times family members can call 954.967.4435.

Here is the complete list of the 14 victims:

1. Carolyn Eatherly, DOB 8-13-39
2. Gail Nova, DOB 2-22-46
3. Estella Hendricks, DOB1-4-46
4. Bobby Owens, DOB 5-16-33
5. Miguel Franco, DOB 9-5-25
6. Manuel Mendieta, DOB 8-26-21
7. Albertina Vega, DOB 10-10-17
8. Betty Hibbard, DOB 1-11-33
9. Carlos Canal, DOB 11-4-23
10. Martha Murray, DOB 1-10-23
11. Alice Thomas, DOB 2-27-23
12. Dolores Biamonte, DOB 2-25-60
13. Cecilia Franco, DOB 4-2-27
14. Francesca Andrade, DOB 12-7-21

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Photo credit: John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP