KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Over 100 Kansas Citians were evacuated from the Parkview Healthcare nursing home after an HVAC system failure Tuesday.
Assistant Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department Chief Jimmy Walker said the department received a call from the nursing home around 9 a.m. asking for crews to take seven COVID-19 patients to hospitals because of the air conditioning problems.
The facility attempted to bring in external cooling units but had to call the fire department again about two hours later because the HVAC repairs were going to take longer than originally anticipated.
KCFD then made plans to evacuate the remaining 110 residents, according to Walker.
Just after 6 p.m., all residents had successfully been moved to nine different locations. All of locations were in the immediate Kansas City area with the exception of one in Warrensburg.
To handle the demand, the departments activated the emergency operations center and EMS strike force. University Health and the Missouri Department of Heath and Senior Services also provided additional help.
Ten regional ambulances and three supervisors were also on standby, per KCFD.
Walker said all residents will be in air-conditioned facilities tonight.
Misters, water and other items cooling items were made available to residents as they waited for a trip on a RideKC bus to another facility.
The KC area remains under an excessive heat warning until Friday night.
A spokesperson for Parkview Healthcare said company representatives are aware of the incident and are working to address it.
The 41 I-Team found that Parkview ranks as a one-star facility out of five possible stars.
The federal government fined the facility a dozen times over the last three years, totaling nearly $158,000.
Those fines were the result of multiple citations. The most recent state inspection was in April.
One of those citations was for failing to have an emergency preparedness plan, that it didn't have a way for residents to contact staff to have their needs met if the power went out in the building. The facility was cited for the same deficiency in 2021 and 2019.
Along the same lines, Parkview didn't have a written emergency evacuation plan and received a citation in April. That was also a repeat citation.
The facility also didn't have a generator or other power source capable of supplying service within 10 seconds.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, Parkview corrected the recent violations by June 1.
The Missouri Department of Health and Seniors Services told KSHB 41 its section for long-term care regulation is working closely with the facility to ensure the health and safety of the residents.
The I-Team has contacted the facility owner for comment.
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