US nursing homes aren’t safe amid climate crisis, report finds. And it’s getting worse.
Amid a devastating power outage and plummeting temperatures in 2021, workers at a nursing home in La Marque, Texas, kept elderly residents warm with blankets and socks used as mittens.
In Houston, a woman in a wheelchair wondered if she’d need to throw herself through a window to survive as able-bodied residents of the assisted-living facility left because the elevators weren’t powered.
In Austin, workers served coffee and tea as the home desperately tried to secure a backup power generator.
A report from two Senate committees obtained by USA TODAY examines how dire the situation became for Texas nursing home and assisted-living facility residents when a February 2021 snow and ice storm led to widespread power outages.