NEW LOUISIANA LAW: Nursing Homes Must Have Backup Generators

A new law will soon be in effect in Louisiana: nursing homes must have emergency generators.

According to WDSU, the new requirement passed both the Louisiana Senate and House and is expected to be signed into law by Governor John Bel Edwards.

St. Martin Parish Senator Fred Mills is the bill's sponsor, according to Louisiana Radio Network.

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Senator Mills proposed the legislation, Senate Bill 33, after seeing the effects of Hurricane Ida on some facilities in Louisiana.

this bill just makes it mandatory and it spells out some guidelines of alternative sources of energy, in the event of a catastrophe or energy loss - Senator Fred Mills, via LRN

If you recall, as Hurricane Ida was threatening Louisiana in 2021, several residents of nursing homes in Orleans, Jefferson, Terrebone, and Lafourche parishes were evacuated. They were sent to a warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish.

Reports from ABC and NPR say that the warehouse to which the patients were evacuated was not set up as a proper facility to receive nursing home residents. There was no air conditioning, no proper beds (the residents were on mattresses on the floor), and some residents were having to use buckets as toilets.

it also spells out how much fuel they should have available for storage. It also addresses having contracts to make sure that fuel can be brought to the site, in case of a long-term power disruption - Senator Fred Mills, via LRN

Conditions at that warehouse were so dire that some of the residents had to be hospitalized and some even died. Employees at the warehouse were even turning away family members and kicked out an inspector from the Louisiana Department of Health.

Louisiana Senator Fred Mills

Senate Bill 33, which will go into effect in 2023, requires all nursing homes and similar facilities to have an emergency backup generator.

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When there is word that a hurricane might threaten the Gulf Coast, we start thinking about what items we need to make life bearable if we end up stuck at home without electricity and internet.

In addition to these creature comforts, we also need to think about the many things that we would need to take with us if we are forced to evacuate.

While we all immediately think of things like prescription medicines and important papers, there are other things that can come in handy whether we will be stuck at home, at a relative's house, or in a shelter.

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