Nursing home director chides Gary plowing effort

GARY, Ind. — A nursing home director says the city of Gary failed to protect some of its most vulnerable residents when its crews didn't plow the alleys and streets surrounding his facility after a blizzard dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on the city.

Executive Director John Grimm of the South Shore Health & Rehabilitation Center in Gary said the streets around the long-term care center remained unplowed for more than a week after the Feb. 2 storm.

The city's inaction "put the lives of many residents in jeopardy, as ambulances and emergency medical services and other medical providers were not able to access the facility," Grimm said.

One patient at the 129-bed home died on the day of the storm, and its staff had to leave the resident's body in a room with an open window because a hearse could not reach the building until a private contractor plowed the surrounding city streets and alleys, Grimm said.

Ambulances also could not reach the nursing home until the private contractor plowed the area at a cost to the home of more than $1,400, Grimm said.

Some South Shore patients needing regular kidney dialysis treatment were unable to obtain it for days after the storm.

"These are some very sick and vulnerable patients who sometimes have emergencies and need to go to the hospital. Somebody could have died," he said.

The city should have given priority to clearing streets around health care facilities, Grimm said.

Karen Ayersman, administrator for Timberview Health Care Center in Gary, said she was aware the city lacked equipment and resources and faced a record blizzard, but the side streets around her facility also went unplowed for days.

"Health care facilities like ours were not cleared," she said.

She said the private plow trucks her company hired could not even get to the nursing home parking lots to clear them because of the snow-choked streets.

"Finally, we had to pay our own plow trucks to clear Taft Street because the city did not," she said. "Ambulances couldn't get through 3 feet of snow. It was definitely a problem."

City officials said they did their best under trying circumstances.

Joe Leavy, Gary's director of emergency management, said his office tried to clear streets around dialysis centers and at least one nursing home.

"We made sure that major streets and side streets could get ambulances in and out," Leavy said. "The problem was people, many people didn't move their cars and that limited plows to clearing only one lane. That made our jobs very difficult. A lot of people were parking near those nursing homes."

Leavy said even the tow truck drivers towing cars from the streets were getting stuck.

"We tried to do the very best that we could in a terrible situation," he said. "We have an emergency response plan and we tried to take care of the immediately ill. But we had a whole lot of problems. Any plan can be improved. We're all human and we're going to make mistakes, but we'll do a better job the next time."

Gary Police Chief Gary Carter, the city's former emergency management director, said everyone did the best they could under trying circumstances.

"I think they did a great job with what they had," Carter said.

The city's new fire chief, Donald Williamson, said his department responded to multiple ambulance requests to transport patients to the hospital or dialysis centers and used fire department plows to clear driveways and streets.

"We had fire trucks and ambulances, even police cars, get stuck in the snow," said Williamson.