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Independent But Vulnerable To Disaster

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By GRETCHEN PARKER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2007

In the chaotic hours before Hurricane Charley plowed over Florida three years ago, shelters opened their doors to an influx of frail seniors who had nowhere else to go. Some were so fragile, with so many health problems, that reporters began making inquiries.

What nursing homes, they demanded to know, were dumping all of these vulnerable, elderly people into public shelters?

The answer? None of them. These people who were old and sick came from their own homes. They lived alone and on their own.

The emergency revealed a population of people who live their everyday lives unseen and uncounted but who, in a disaster, need shelter and help getting there. Emergency planners all over the state began to reconsider the size and vulnerability of a senior population that doesn't live under the eye of a nursing home or assisted living facility.

But government's power to watch over independent seniors is limited. Even when it comes to senior apartment complexes, which each house hundreds, emergency officials have no authority over the building's disaster planning.

These complexes - there are 14 in Hillsborough County evacuation zones - aren't even required to come up with hurricane plans, including those complexes that get government funding.

Disaster experts, emergency planners and managers of complexes agree that the quality of the buildings' disaster planning largely depends on how good the management is.

In interviews for this story, they explicitly urged the public to take responsibility for family members who live in these buildings and to question managers about their emergency plans.

Their message to these independent but vulnerable seniors is the same as it is for young families and baby boomers: Don't depend on government to take care of you.

On Their Own, But In Need Of Help

Of the 21 seniors who gathered for a hurricane information session at Manhattan Place apartments on a morning in mid-May, three were in motorized chairs. Most were alert, but a few seemed incoherent. One woman wore a housedress.

The 75 people who make their home in this building in South Tampa, evacuation zone B, are living independently. Some pay for nursing care two or three days a week, but this is not assisted living.

If a hurricane threatened, the people who live here would ultimately be responsible for taking care of themselves.

'That's what this is: independent living. It's supposed to be,' said Pat Murray, a 68-year-old native of Louisville, Ky., who has lived here six years and depends on her motorized chair to get around.

'But there are some people here, ain't no way they could do it. No way,' she says, contemplating what a hurricane evacuation would look like here. 'They just can't depend on themselves. They wouldn't know what to do.'

Because she uses oxygen at night and several times during the day, Murray is registered for a special needs shelter. Putting her name on that list takes away the worry that she will be left behind if a storm comes. Emergency planners know who she is, where she is, and that they need to come and get her.

There is no such safety net for her neighbors who aren't on that list. Ultimately, they are responsible for getting themselves out of harm's way.

County emergency officials have vowed to do their best to help, by sending buses and vans. But even then, it is up to the apartment management to stay in contact with officials and coordinate the transportation that's available.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed that evacuating fragile seniors in an emergency is no simple task. That's why nursing homes and assisted living facilities are required to compile disaster plans and hand them over to local emergency planners for a review. There is no such requirement for independent-living complexes.

If evacuation fails, and seniors are left behind, there's even more trouble to deal with. When Hurricane Charley turned unexpectedly and took aim at Charlotte County, many elderly were left stranded at facilities without power for days. Their buildings had not planned for what would happen after a storm, if their residents were stuck.

Steven Porter, emergency planner for Hillsborough County, was delivering this hurricane talk at Manhattan Place. He is confident the handful of emergency plans he has seen for these complexes are sound. He has no way of knowing how efficient the other complexes are, or if they have plans at all.

His agency has taken on the job of keeping an inventory of these buildings so they can reach out to them if an evacuation is ordered. He hopes when that happens, the apartment managers will be responsive and cooperate.

'The people who live in these complexes run the gamut from someone you'd see on a tennis court in Sun City Center to someone you'd expect to see in a nursing home,' Porter said.

There's no way to know how many independent seniors would need shelter in a storm, but the Florida Association of Homes and Services for the Aging estimates there are at least 9,200 of them who live in apartments in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and Pasco counties.

Those are the buildings that are members of the nonprofit association, known as FAHSA, that represents independent and assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Hillsborough County alone has at least 4,000, the agency said.

There could be many more seniors who would need help; the state Department of Elder Affairs estimates there are 710,000 people over 60 in those four counties.

Many of the complexes are easy to spot. CTA River Apartments rises on the banks of the Hillsborough River like a luxury high-rise. It has, the manager here says, a 'million-dollar view.'

But these aren't rich people who live here. Almost all 211 residents get help paying rent from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Still, the building gets no more regulation of its emergency management than any other apartment building in the county.

Misperceptions On Oversight

The public has the perception that those who live in senior apartment complexes are watched over and regulated by government, said experts and industry officials. In the public's mind, they are lumped in with assisted living and nursing home facilities - buildings' whose services are reviewed regularly, or they lose their licenses.

The perception is wrong.

'That is why they fall in the cracks sometimes,' said Carole Murphy, the administrator who runs CTA River Apartments. 'You hear on television or you read about the nursing homes and assisted living buildings. What about the buildings like us?'

In an evacuation, 'These residents are on their own,' she said.

The public also sometimes assumes that senior apartments have staff watching over them 24 hours a day, just like in a nursing home or assisted living facility, said Janegale Boyd, president and CEO of FAHSA.

The truth is, after business hours, these buildings are often just like any other apartment complex. 'They may not have anybody there,' Boyd said.

Because there is no regulation of disaster plans at CTA River Apartments, it's up to Murphy to update them regularly and seek advice from county emergency planners on her own. The county says she is doing a good job.

As part of her disaster preparation, she surveys each resident about what family members or friends they will evacuate with if they don't go to a shelter. She keeps a catalog of emergency contacts, updated yearly, in a thick binder.

When residents evacuate on their own, staff members ask them to sign out. They try not to let anyone pass them without knowing where they are going. Then the staff searches every room, under beds and in closets and in bathtubs. It's well-known among apartment managers that their panicked, disoriented seniors sometimes do anything they can to stay put.

About a third of CTA's residents can drive on their own. A large number - as many as half - have relatives nearby who have vowed to come get them. But there is an additional 5 percent, Murphy says, who have no one.

'Those are the ones I'm glued to,' she says.

Murphy isn't legally required to do any of this.

The only thing tying her or any manager to a complex when a storm is bearing down is their own moral scruples.

'A lot of them will tell you, and they're legally right, their responsibility is not with the residents. It's with the building,' she said. 'It's not our obligation. It's not required, legally. We just do it.'

Not all senior apartment complexes are active emergency planners, Porter said. And if they don't volunteer their disaster plans, he has no way of knowing if they even have one.

He pushes the limits of what he can persuade apartment managers to comply with; both sides know he has no authority over them.

The only way to know if a manager has a plan is to ask for it, said Robin Bleier, an independent consultant on long-term care who leads the disaster committee of the Florida Health Care Association. Don't assume there is one, she said.

'The people that live there or their families should check on what planning may have been provided,' she said.

Reporter Gretchen Parker can be reached at (813) 259-7562 or gparker@tampatrib.com.

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