Video Shows Conditions Inside Hollywood Nursing Home Evening Before Residents Died
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HOLLYWOOD (CBSMiami) – New video shows the conditions inside the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center the evening before eight residents died.
The power at the nursing home went out because of Hurricane Irma and the air conditioning was not working.
In the video, you can clearly see residents suffering in the sweltering heat as staff used fans to cool them.
The 34-second video shows a couple laying in their hospital gowns, in their beds, while a small fan sits on the nightstand next to them, as well as a cracked open window.
The video was taken by the couple's daughter. She did not want to be identified.
The footage is the first look into what kind of conditions the residents at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center were living in that caused eight of them to die.
In the middle of the video, the camera moves into the hallway where a naked woman is hunched over on what appears to be a hospital bed, her clothes gone in what can be assumed was an attempt to cool off.
Related: Nursing Home Execs Called Gov. Rick Scott's Cell Asking For Help Getting Power Back
The video was shot Tuesday but Hollywood Hills' problems began Sunday at 3pm, when the storm's winds knocked out power to the transformer that powered the center's AC system.
Within the hour, administrators called FPL to ask for help. They say FPL promised a crew the next morning.
By Monday evening, no crew had arrived.
And so a senior official at the home called the cell phone Governor Scott had given out for emergencies. It went straight to voice mail.
More calls to the governor's cell phone were made, according to the nursing home.
One just before 10 a.m., the other at 12:41 p.m.. The home says FPL was called too, as many as 50 times.
Related: Here is the timeline as provided by the Rehabilitation Center of Hollywood Hills
By 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, the facility began calling 911. By 5 a.m. several patients were dead. By 6 a.m., the rest were evacuated.
When FPL finally did arrive at the Hollywood Hills nursing home Wednesday, after the patients had died, it took workers approximately 20 minutes to get the facility's power back up and running.
