Nursing home operator, Bob Dean in a file photo.
The owner of the seven nursing homes that evacuated more than 800 residents to a Tangipahoa Parish warehouse before Hurricane Ida is trying to get his nursing home licenses back. Bob Dean’s attorney John McLindon said they’ve filed an appeal with the Division of Administrative Law trying to have the licenses restored.
“LDH came in and they just felt like they had to take it over we told them we’ve got this there are difficult circumstances but we’d already placed 100 residents in other facilities but they just came in and took it over,” McLindon said.
At least 12 people who were evacuated to the warehouse later died, five of them have been ruled storm-related. The Louisiana Department of Health cited cruelty or indifference for why the licenses were revoked.
McLindon said the Louisiana Department of Health had issues with what happened after the evacuation and not the evacuation plan itself. He says what happened afterward happened in other areas impacted by the hurricanes.
“The evacuation was fine their complaints were the day after the hurricane the streets were all blocked, trees were down, powerlines were down, garbage trucks couldn’t get there and some of the staff couldn’t get there,” McLindon said.
As for when he expects his client to possibly regain the licenses for his seven facilities, McLindon says he expects it could take months.
“I suspect the LDH will file some sort of response to my appeal and then eventually we’ll have a trial in front of an administrative law judge,” McLindon said.
McLindon says in the meantime his client has had to lay off several employees and for others, he continues to pay their salaries despite no income.
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