In the movie Fight Club, Tyler Durden says,”Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.”
At the Escambia County Emergency Operations Center, county officials haven’t given us regular status reports on local nursing homes and the Escambia County Jail.
Meanwhile, Inweekly has received several reports of issues at Azalea Trace, and since that is one of the better run facilities, I am concerned what is happening elsewhere. Many nursing homes were struggling with staffing and supplies before Hurricane Sally because of COVID-19.
Last night, I received this email regarding the county jail:
“I’ve been following your updates on Escambia County Jail and it’s Covid-19 testing. My husband is an inmate there and they are still being denied testing. However that’s not why I’m writing.
“I haven’t been in touch with him since Wednesday (the day of Hurricane Sally). He was able to talk to his parents a couple of times. He says that Wednesday they were allowed only eight ounces of water to drink and it’s only gotten worse since. They didn’t have running water, at least on Wednesday, so they had to use bags to use as a toilet.
“I was wondering if you have any contacts in the jail where we can get honest updates? My Mother-in-Law tried calling the commissioner in charge of the jail, with no answer. I live in Warrington, so I know how slow things are moving with the clean up, and understand it, but it seems they just keep treating the inmates like less than human.
“Can you give me any contacts or insights so I can try to get something moving for the inmates? They’ve been through a lot with Covid, and now with this hurricane, it’s only gotten worse. I appreciate any help or insights you can give. Thank you in advance and stay safe.”
The EOC presser is 11 a.m. I will asked about nursing homes and the jail.
Thank you for the update
Thank you for continuing the lead the charge on getting the important info out there, Rick, and for keeping pressure on this administration to stop digging its heels it on providing info everybody should have already had days ago.
It would be great if somebody from the media could ask how we work around Doug to get sufficient aid to the areas in District 2 he has publicly called “Fly Over” neighborhoods. There is zero reason that I have heard that Walmart on Navy Blvd doesn’t have a stand up as they did in Ivan–probably that nobody cares and nobody asked. Yes, Doug is what he i, but that doesn’t absolve County administration from getting help to all the citizens of Escambia–and particularly the most needy. Perhaps Congressman Andrade could get it going. It is beyond absurd that the only aid station in our district is down in Innerarity. A lot of the residents of Forest Creek, Lexington Arms, etc do not have a way to get to the nearest aid stations in Commissioner May’s districts. As best as I can tell, County D2 is the largest gaping hole of unmet, pressing need, and his office isn’t great during the best of times at returning calls that don’t come from his more well-heeled constituents. Any assistance would be appreciated.
I work at Southern Oaks and as of the 17th we have power, water, phones, internet, food and transportation. We have gone as far as picking out coworkers up and bringing them into work. We will do what we need to cover our shifts. We have minor leaks that have been isolated and can be fixed. Our generators–yes we have them–amd have had them for a while–were operational during the storm. We have no injuries or fatalities due to storm issues. We will be resuming family visitation as soon and possible. State inspectors were in our building yesterday.
Our COVID-19 numbers are ZERO patients and ZERO residents.