Posted on 02/02/2006 11:09:22 AM PST by ncountylee
WASHINGTON Senators needled Governor Kathleen Blanco today over state evacuation plans that left sick and elderly patients in nursing homes as Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast.
Senator Susan Collins, head of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the majority of nursing homes did not evacuate, and people died because of it.
At issue was earlier testimony by Louisiana's transportation secretary who told Senate investigators that the state did nothing to fulfill its responsibility of ensuring evacuation plans are in place for at-risk populations.
At least 40 bodies, many of them elderly patients, were found inside a flooded New Orleans hospital after Katrina hit.
Additionally, 34 patients at a nursing home near New Orleans died August 29th in the wake of massive flooding brought by the storm's surge. The nursing home's owners have since been charged with negligent homicide for failing to evacuate the patients.
(Excerpt) Read more at katc.com ...
She and pig face Mary should be in jail with Nagin.
Blanco, appearing with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, said that will never happen again.
Wow! Susan Collins got after her? Collins must be out to maintain the minimum flying time necessary to keep her GOP license.
A congressional committee wants to know why many nursing home residents were left behind before Hurricane Katrina hit, and Louisiana's governor was called upon to answer the committee's questions this morning.Gov. Kathleen Blanco finished her testimony before the committee just before noon.
According to the state's emergency plan, the Department of Transportation and Development was responsible for the evacuation of the state's most vulnerable residents, like nursing homes and hospital patients. At least 140 patients at New Orleans area hospitals and nursing homes died during the storm and its aftermath.
On Capitol Hill today, two senators told Blanco they were disappointed in the testimony given previously by DOTD Secretary Johnny Bradberry, who said he didn't think nursing home and hospital patient evacuation was an appropriate responsibility for his agency to bear.
Committee Chairwoman Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Blanco what the state was doing to fix the problem.
"We certainly agree with you that the Department of Transportation should have planned the evacuation of the most needy citizens," Blanco said. "Let me say that that will never happen again."
Blanco said in the future nursing home evacuations will fall under the Department of Health and Hospitals. She also said nursing home owners have a personal responsibility to follow their evacuation plan.
Thursday marked the second time the governor has answered questions in Washington, D.C., about the response to Hurricane Katrina. Committee members will also take testimony from Mississippi Gov. Hailey Barbour.
"Governor Blanco, can you tell us this: Are you happy or married? Do you take a bus or a lunch to work? When are you going to clean up your closet? What's your favorite color? Where is Shreveport, Louisiana?"
Blanco's toast. She's just warming a chair until '07 when John Breaux will ride his white horse to the rescue.
She'll go quietly away never to be heard from again---a footnote of history. THANK GOD!
Kathy: just tell them it's all Bush's fault. (Maybe FEMA...)
----Yes. She should. All she is going to do at the hearing is lie her a** off just like they all do to cover their incompetant and down right ignorant actions. There is NO excuse for leaving elderly/sick people behind. NO EXCUSE.
Sounds like Justice Alito suffered a more thorough questioning than Gov. Goofup.
Liberal spin alert: What's with the phrase "needled"? The "needled" her? Sounds like they were just having a little fun.
But the issue is why sick people died because they were not evacuated -- that's not a laughing matter.
When are their elections? I listened to Nagin's testimony last night and he still doesn't get it. Says he's asked for 65,000 temporary homes and FEMA hasn't delivered yet. What makes him think there were 65,000 mobile homes just sitting around? He thinks that the country, the world even, should move heaven and earth to compensate for mistakes they made. I think he should be grateful for how much everyone has done.
For the record, that nursing home where the patients drowned wasn't in Nagin's jurisdiction. He is at fault for many things but the nursing home was located in St. Bernard Parish not the city limits of New Orleans.
Blanco orders remodeling just after storms Office tab: $564,838
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