Rick Scott Stop A Reminder of His Failed Leadership on Nursing Homes, & Self-Serving Politics

AP: Scott cell-phone a “bottleneck” during recent nursing home hurricane tragedy, Scott “grandstanding to boost his likely Senate campaign.”

In response to Rick Scott’s tone deaf press conference at a nursing facility, Florida Democratic Party spokesman Sebastian Kitchen released the following statement:

“Floridians remember Rick Scott’s real record of making seniors less safe – like how he slashed protections for seniors throughout his administration and how he deleted the voicemail messages he received from nursing homes pleading for help during Hurricane Irma. He didn’t answer their calls and 12 individuals tragically died. But Scott still refused to accept responsibility for his actions, just as he did with Parkland and the FIU bridge. It’s all just more proof Scott is a self-serving politician who cannot be trusted to be honest with the people of Florida. ” 

What They’re Saying About Rick Scott’s Tragic, Deceitful and Unacceptable Record Making Seniors Less Safe:

Associated Press, 1/12/2018, Nursing homes swamped Florida governor’s phone after Irma

• “Twelve patients later died of overheating at a nursing home that called Scott’s cellphone three times. Its administrators say Scott’s staff didn’t get them help restoring their air conditioning.”
• “As Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida, Gov. Rick Scott gave out his cellphone number during a conference call with administrators of the state’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities. He told them to contact him if they ran into problems, and he would try to get help. So they did, 120 times according to phone records released this week. Nearly all the calls went directly to voicemail before being returned.”
• “The Associated Press reached 29 of the callers this week, and found that in numerous cases, the governor’s offer to personally intervene may have slowed efforts to get help, and fostered unrealistic and potentially dangerous expectations that Scott could resolve problems that were beyond his control.”
• “The executive director “called Scott’s cellphone, but no assistance arrived. ‘The governor promised help. We never saw any help,’ Morrow said, saying she believes Scott was grandstanding to boost his likely Senate campaign.”
• “‘Even with the best of intentions, when you give a single number, you automatically create a potential bottleneck, and it’s almost a guaranteed bottleneck if it’s the governor’s number,’ said Richard Olson, executive director of Florida International University’s Extreme Events Institute.” 

CBS Miami, 9/22/2017, Nursing Home Voicemails To Governor Deleted

• “There were a total of four voicemails left during the 36 hours before the first patient died, and they would have been a critical piece of evidence in the ongoing investigation into the patient deaths.”
• “The Governor’s actions, however, have also come under scrutiny.”

Newsweek, 9/25/2017, Florida Governor Rick Scott May Have Broken The Law By Deleting Pleas for Help From Nursing Home Where 11 Died

• “It doesn’t make any sense for him to delete these records,” she said. “Why not just keep them? It’s definitely troubling.”

CBS Miami, 11/6/2017, Exclusive: Woman Who Called Governor Before Nursing Home Deaths Expected “Better Response”

• “She made two more calls to the Governor’s cell phone and another executive made an additional call to Scott – but again nothing came from them. By early Wednesday morning the situation deteriorated rapidly.”

Tallahassee Democrat, 11/6/2017, Retirees want Legislature to investigate Gov. Rick Scott’s “ineptness”

• “The groups delivered 12,000 petition signatures to House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron’s offices. They want the Legislature to look into how the nursing home calls were handled and if any laws were violated when the messages were deleted.”

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