Residents More Prone to Illness, Injury, Death Following Natural Disasters

Investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing have found that long-term care residents who are displaced from their facilities following natural disasters are more likely to experience illness, injury and even death.
The researchers tracked 17 LTC residents who were evacuated following a severe storm. They tested all of the residents on orientation, language, attention and recall on the day of the storm, and then three times a week for two weeks until the residents returned to their original facility. They found that more than half of the residents performed poorly on the tests during the two weeks following evacuation. More than half the residents experienced delirium and two required hospitalization.

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