Elders Abandoned

Texas Fema Governor plans probe after some elderly say they were abandoned in storm.

by Associated Press

Published: Mon, September 15, 2008 - 12:37 am CST Last Updated: Mon, September 15, 2008 - 12:40 am CST

HOUSTON (AP) - Texas Governor Rick Perry says an investigation
is planned into why staff at a public housing complex in Houston
apparently left elderly residents without care overnight during
Hurricane Ike.
Perry says many of the residents of the federally subsidized
Independence Hall complex have medical problems and needed help.
After residents complained, a FEMA task force showed up at 2
o'clock Sunday morning and checked on them. The agency says they
checked again during daylight hours and that residents who wanted
to leave were taken to a shelter at a convention center.
Of a total 260 residents, about 50 went to the center. Some
others went to stay with family members.
The property manager says she couldn't really force residents to
leave, but could just "keep an eye" on those who stayed.

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barefootangel Says:

Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 1:11 pm

Right, if they needed that type of care they would have been in a nursing home.

sweetnsour Says:

Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 12:15 pm

I didn’t realize that if you were in public housing the property owner was responsible for your well being and also responsible if you made a decision not to leave. I am sure in their lease agreement it did not state that the lessor was responsible for the well being of tennants should an act of nature occur.

carl Says:

Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 6:04 am

I think the key word here is elderly. I’ve seen plenty of, by my definition, young people who are on Social Security by way of being declared disabled that are in much better health than some not declared disabled and much older. But being elderly makes it more believable that they are in need of help. That being said, all you can do is to offer to help them to be relocated and if they refuse and seem to be of sound mind then tell them you’ll check on them when possible after the event. If they seem of an unsound mind then notify the authorities responsible for their relocation.

barefootangel Says:

Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 8:34 pm

They could have left and been taken to a shelten to be taken care of is what is indicated. that is what i commented on, You don’t have to have money to be able to leave. I live on Social Security and am disable, and if I couldn’t take care of myself where I was, I would go to where I could be taken care of. But thank you for helping understand the report.

mjohnson13 Says:

Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 6:27 pm

Wow, Barefootangel. Did you read this admittedly superficial article? Did you bother to scratch the surface? These are low-income people that counted on the management of their facility to take care of them. This is not a set of apartments full of 20-somethings. These are, by definition, old and poor people, many of whom have nothing except a pension and/or social security that is keeping them from dying like a dog on the side of the road.

The residents of IH counted on the staff for their survival. If there’s a law against what they did, I hope that the book gets thrown at them. Repeatedly.

barefootangel Says:

Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 9:05 pm

What did they have to complain about? If they didn’t want to leave they shouldn’t expect other people to stay and take care of them and take a chance of dying with them just because they didn’t want to leave.