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Central Florida News


Senator Rick Scott Says He Wants to Make Sure Nursing Homes Get Generators Before the First Hurricane of the Season

by (WMFE)
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But an Agency for Health Care Administration report found only thirty six percent of the facilities had one in place. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

But an Agency for Health Care Administration report found only thirty six percent of the facilities had one in place. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

Senator Rick Scott says he wants to make sure nursing homes have generators before the next hurricane.

Scott met with state and local officials and businesses at Valencia College in Orlando to discuss hurricane preparedness.

As Governor of Florida, Scott signed a bill requiring nursing homes to have generators.

But an Agency for Health Care Administration report found only thirty six percent of the facilities had one in place.

Scott said one of his priorities was to make sure local nursing homes work with partners like FEMA to get generators.

“It’s frustrating. You have an expectation to be safe. So you just have to keep pushing it all the time.”

Twelve people died at a nursing home in Hollywood during Hurricane Irma due to heat-related illness after the power went out.

Scott says he also wants to work with cell phone companies and local utilities providers to make sure cell service isn’t lost during a hurricane.

“My biggest concern after Michael-our last hurricane-was getting the cell companies to work together. That’s one of my goals right now is making sure they’re all talking together so if one goes down for some reason you’re not going to lose your cell service.”

The hurricane season started June 1 and ends November 30.

For breaking news updates on hurricanes and other bad weather, download the Florida storms app or click on the Severe Storm and Weather Tracking tab on wmfe.org.

If you’d like to listen to the full story, please click on the clip above.


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Danielle Prieur

About Danielle Prieur

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Danielle Prieur grew up listening to her grandfather’s stories of swimming across the Detroit River from Canada and many other adventures. She’s been into storytelling ever since. She studied writing at the University of Michigan. She trained in public radio at WDET’s Detroit newsroom, and is really excited ... Read Full Bio »

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