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After Irma: Sixty-four Florida nursing homes still without power

Westwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center  staff and Fort Walton Beach firefighters  load Irma evacuees  onto a bus on Sept. 13, 2017, to head back to the their facility in Mayo, Fla.

The number of nursing homes in Florida still without power stood at 64 midday Thursday — down from about 400 that lost power due to Hurricane Irma, according to the Florida Health Care Association.

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The plight of residents in nursing homes and other residential health care facilities turned dire on Wednesday, when heat reportedly contributed to the death of eight residents in a Broward County nursing home without power.

Under state and federal regulations, nursing homes are not required to have generators but must have an “alternate source of energy to maintain temperatures to protect resident health and safety. …”

The association, a trade group that represents 80 percent of the state's long-term care providers, has been urging providers without power to contact the association for assistance.