Agencies prepare frailest seniors

By JOHN A. CUTTER

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 1998

n a quiet corner amid the swirl of activity in the parking lot of a St. Pete Beach nursing home Thursday, Bill Barbosa tried to comfort his 85-year-old mother, to help her understand why she had to leave before Hurricane Georges arrives.

More coverage from the Times on our Georges site.

"I asked her if she was okay, and she nodded yes," Barbosa, 60, said as he gently held his mother's hand and smiled down with concern as she reclined on a gurney. His mother, Rosa Rivera, can't talk because of a series of strokes, but she realizes what is happening, Barbosa said.

Mrs. Rivera was one of 46 residents removed Thursday from Crown Nursing Center on Gulf Boulevard in St. Pete Beach, which is in the first zone to evacuate in Pinellas County. The image of old people in wheelchairs, lifted softly into waiting vans as afternoon thunderclouds gathered like a bad omen, was one from a day full of feverish work to prepare the area's frailest seniors for Georges.

Extra meals were delivered to home-bound elders. Social workers called and visited clients who receive health care at home. Nursing homes and hospitals got ready for the worst, with a few like Crown moving residents to safer locations in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Others, like Palms of Pasadena and Vencor hospitals in flood-prone areas of South Pinellas, were watching the weather and preparing to move patients.

Still, despite months of planning, agency directors know they will miss some seniors who either don't know or don't care that a storm is approaching. It is the ones without family, friends or contact with social service groups who are most at risk.

"We've had calls to our helpline on other issues and people are surprised when we tell them a hurricane is coming," said Sally Gronda, director of the Area Agency on Aging for Pinellas and Pasco.

Although this might surprise younger generations addicted to the Weather Channel, some of the oldest, poorest people don't have cable television. And because of hearing or vision problems, they might not have a TV or radio or might not read the newspaper.

"And some have little contact with people, so they are unprepared for how bad it might be," Gronda said. "If you know there is an old person in your building or neighborhood, it would be good to check on them, to make sure they are prepared."

No one is sure how many vulnerable old people live in the Tampa Bay area. But there are 640,000 people over age 60 in Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Hillsborough counties -- including more than 61,000 over age 85. It is estimated that up to 15 percent of them have a physical or mental limitation.

And their lifeline often is programs such as Meals on Wheels, which delivers a hot meal each weekday. But with Georges approaching, Neighborly Senior Services in Pinellas delivered a package of canned and dried foods Thursday to make three meals. No meal will come today.

"I usually keep a supply of canned food on hand because I can't get to the store, but this extra will help," said Esther Kimberlin, 83, of St. Petersburg, as she added her Neighborly meal to an array of cans on her kitchen counter.

E. Bentley Lipscomb, secretary of the state Department of Elder Affairs, said all agencies that contract for services for seniors have to have a disaster plan in effect. And since it wasn't long after Lipscomb opened the department in 1992 that Hurricane Andrew hit, he says everyone is more sensitive to the special needs of frail elders.
-- Staff writers Toni L. Sandys and Christina Headrick contributed to this report.