AMU Emergency Management Original Public Safety

EDM Friday Briefing: State Seeks to Revoke Licenses of Senior Care Centers That Abandoned Residents

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Emergency and disaster management briefing for September 7, 2018: California officials are seeking to revoke the licenses of top administrators and senior care centers in Santa Rosa following the 2017 wildfires, four people are dead after a gunman opened fire at an office building in Cincinnati on Thursday, the CDC and Southwest Airlines are working to notify passengers of their exposure to the measles on four flights, a major earthquake struck Japan’s Hokkaido Island, triggering landslides and killing at least 18, meteorologists forecast Hurricane Norman to pass to Hawaii’s northeast, the CDC was called to evaluate at least a dozen sick passengers on two international American Airlines flights that landed in Philadelphia, Japan has acknowledged for the first time that a former worker at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has died from radiation exposure, and downgraded to a tropical storm overnight, Florence is forecast to re-strengthen over the weekend and could impact the East Coast of the United States next week.

  1. State officials in California moved to revoke the licenses of two senior care facilities and staff members in Santa Rosa–both managed by the Oakmont Management Group–after an [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/06/state-says-seniors-were-abandoned-during-california-wildfire.html” title=”investigation found that staff abandoned residents during an evacuation for the Tubbs Fire”] when it swept through Northern California last October. In its findings, the state indicates that staff at one facility, Villa Capri, [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/state-seniors-abandoned-california-wildfire-57659684″ title=”were not trained in emergency procedures, including evacuation plans”], and could not locate keys to a bus, while at the other facility, Varenna, staff allegedly left behind about 70 residents, three of whom were never evacuated. State officials are seeking to revoke the licenses from the facilities and their top administrators and to also ban them for life from working in or owning licensed care facilities.  

  2. Four people are dead after gunfire erupted in downtown Cincinnati early Thursday morning, [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/06/horrific-situation-4-dead-in-cincinnati-bank-shooting.html” title=”at the Fifth Third Center office building in Fountain Square around 9:10 a.m”]. The gunman, identified as Omar Enrique Santa Perez, 29, entered the building through the loading dock and proceeded to the lobby, opening fire and killing three people and injuring two others. Police quickly responded to shouts of a shooter, and Perez died after [link url=”https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2018/09/06/louisville-woman-shot-cincinnati-shooting/1217802002/?csp=chromepush” title=”an exchange of gunfire with the first officers to arrive on the scene”]. 

  3. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Southwest Airlines are working to notify passengers who may have been [link url=”https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2018/09/06/southwest-passengers-warned-possible-measles-exposure-texas/1217897002/” title=”exposed to the measles by an infected passengers that traveled on four flights over two days”]. The flights took place on August 21 and 22, with the first flight originating at Dallas Love Field and ending in Harlingen, Texas with the return from Harlingen to Dallas the next day. Southwest employees were also notified and everyone on board the four flights is being [link url=”https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2018/09/06/southwest-passengers-warned-possible-measles-exposure-texas/1217897002/” title=”cautioned by the CDC to watch for symptoms until September 11″], since incubation of the measles can take up to 21 days.  

  4. [link url=”https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/09/07/japan-quake-toll-landslides/1221015002/” title=”A major earthquake struck Japan’s northern-most main island–Hokkaido–on Thursday”], triggering landslides in Atsuma that crushed and buried homes, [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/06/latest-9-dead-30-missing-in-northern-japan-quake.html” title=”killed 18, injured 350, and left at least another 30 people missing”]. The magnitude 6.7 quake struck during the night, at about 3:08 a.m, at a depth of 24 miles, and was followed by a number of strong aftershocks. The major earthquake [link url=”https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/09/05/japan-earthquake-hokkaido/1209508002/” title=”cut power to nearly 3 million residents following damage to the island’s main thermal power plant in Atsuma”], interrupted phone service, halted trains, and immobilized airports, resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations. 

  5. [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/06/hurricane-norman-on-course-to-pass-hawaii-to-northeast.html” title=”Hurricane Norman is churning in the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii”], but current forecasts have the storm likely passing about 200-300 miles northeast of the state. The hurricane is a Category 3 storm, with winds near 115 mph, but wind shear and cooler ocean waters are expected to weaken the storm in the next couple of days. A direct impact to the state is unlikely, but meteorologists are warning residents that [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/06/hurricane-norman-on-course-to-pass-hawaii-to-northeast.html” title=”high surf is probable due to the storm”] and to be watchful of Hurricane Olivia which could impact the islands as early as next Tuesday. 

  6. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health officials [link url=”https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/6/17829414/american-airlines-flights-emirates-sick-passengers-airplane-phl-jfk-airpots” title=”evaluated passengers from two more flights that reportedly landed with at least a dozen sick passengers”]. The flights, which originated in Munich and Paris and landed at Philadelphia’s International Airport, were operated by American Airlines, and held a total of about 250 people. All the passengers on board were held and evaluated by the CDC-[link url=”https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/6/17829414/american-airlines-flights-emirates-sick-passengers-airplane-phl-jfk-airpots” title=”the second time passengers have been evaluated on international flights landing in the U.S, this week”]-but were later released since no one had a fever. 

  7. For the first time, Japan has acknowledged that the death of a former worker at the [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/06/japan-acknowledges-first-fukushima-radiation-related-death-seven-years-after-disaster.html” title=”Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power plant, who died from lung cancer due, was due to radiation exposure”] after a meltdown at the plant following a major 9.0 earthquake in 2011. The worker was in charge of measuring radiation levels at the plant after three of the six reactors suffered partial meltdowns when the earthquake, and major flooding from the tsunami, knocked out power for the cooling systems at the plant. This is the first time the state has acknowledged that [link url=”http://time.com/5388178/japan-first-fukushima-radiation-death/” title=”a death was directly attributed to radiation exposure”] and the worker should be compensated, however four other workers who contracted cancer are also receiving compensation.  

  8. [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/09/06/hurricane-florence-could-wallop-east-coast-in-days-ahead-forecasters-say.html” title=”Hurricane Florence was downgraded to a tropical storm”] overnight as it lost strength due to wind shear. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) advisory Friday morning reported maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, and a westward movement of 7 mph. The advisory noted that little change in the storm’s intensity was forecast for Friday, but [link url=”http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/os-tropical-storm-florence-update-0907-story.html#” title=”Florence is expected to re-strengthen into a hurricane over the weekend”] and could impact the U.S. East Coast next week. Officials are reminding residents living anywhere along the coastline that they should have a hurricane plan in place to protect their homes and family.  

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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