Hurricane Ian deadly for Florida seniors
"If you remember anything of me after I leave this world, remember that I loved even when it was foolish and that I cared even when it was unwanted. When my body is gone, remember my heart."
A quote that
They'd often talk about books (he'd been on a
The 71-year-old Strasser, who lived alone, had been released from the emergency room after a fall just a day before the storm hit, and not long before that, had spent nearly two months at a hospital and rehabilitation facility.
Worried about his declining health, his sister,
"At that point, the storm was already starting, and I think he was afraid to do it," Link, 65, said from her
"I don't think anybody quite realized how violent the storm was going to be," she said.
Strasser was one of nearly 140 Floridians whose deaths were linked to Hurricane Ian, according to state medical examiner data. Neighbors went to check on him and found him dead in front of his recliner, as if he had gotten up from the chair then fell down onto the soggy carpet, Link said. The medical examiner overseeing
The vast majority of those who perished — nearly two-thirds — were people 65 years of age and older, according to a
The outsized impact on the state's senior citizens was horrifying but not surprising, said
While assisted living facilities and nursing homes are required to have elaborate disaster plans in place, the elder care industry has trended toward home-based care over the last two decades. Seniors generally prefer to age and, eventually, die in their homes, and long-term care facilities are expensive, Peterson said.
"What that means," she said, "is we have a lot more vulnerable people now living in the community."
Lost power, overexertion and preexisting conditions
Those vulnerabilities can include living alone without family or friends in the area and having health complications that could flare up during the storm, when emergency workers aren't available, or after, when the stress and exertion of preparing for, living through and cleaning up after a hurricane can catch up to you.
Peterson herself said that, after Ian, she watched nervously as her 78-year-old husband chopped up an oak tree outside their
The short descriptions of each death capture some of those scenarios:
A 68-year-old
The oldest victim, a 101-year-old
An 80-year-old
Surrounding
Riding out Hurricane Ian
He cut his foot and likely didn't notice,
The cut was exposed to storm surge water and, when the elder Eyers later tried to stand up, his leg gave out and he fell. Neighbors found him, still on the floor, a couple days later and took him to a hospital, where medical examiner records show he was admitted with a hip fracture and organ failure.
He was in such bad shape, his son said, that he didn't recognize his children when they went to visit him. He died shortly after.
"I would love that ... to be heard by some of the older folks,"
Special needs shelters
may not be enough
Emergency management officials typically point to special needs shelters as an option for people with medical issues and who have no other place to go. Accessing such accommodations, including transportation to and from the shelter, typically requires a resident to pre-register with the county.
A county spokesperson declined to make any emergency management officials available for an interview for this story, saying they were focused on Ian recovery and on Hurricane Nicole, which this month made landfall south of
"At a point in the future, an after-action assessment will be completed for the entire Ian event reflecting any lessons learned," the spokesperson added.
While shelters are a good resource, there are still barriers for older adults and caregivers to relocate, USF's Peterson said. For example, for someone with dementia, the prospect of spending days in a noisy, crowded environment can be daunting.
"A lot of caregivers and older adults are afraid of going to shelters," Peterson said. "This is supposed to be the last resort, and they're not pleasant environments."
There are also more practical considerations: the time and energy it takes to adequately prepare for a storm, particularly for caregivers, Peterson said. She came across one woman in her research who works full-time then goes home to take care of her father. By the time she finishes her days, she's exhausted.
"We don't structure the disaster preparedness materials in a way that makes them easy to use," Peterson said. "We need to do a lot better job with that: Creating materials that are accessible, usable."
Remembering
Looking back, Link isn't sure how much more could have been done to save her brother. He spent years as a heavy smoker, so his health was already on the decline.
"It's like this storm was the tipping point," she said.
But it doesn't make the pain of losing him any easier.
Strasser was smart and kind with about a thousand books in his house.
Growing up in
He loved his motorcycle so much that, with the help of their father, Link said, he opened a motorcycle shop in
After the move, he went to school to become a massage therapist and ran a massage business with his wife at the time. After their divorce, he started working for
Link left her own comment on the page, recalling a quote that Strasser asked her to share when he died:
"If you remember anything of me after I leave this world, remember that I loved even when it was foolish and that I cared even when it was unwanted. When my body is gone, remember my heart."
"If you remember anything of me after I leave this world, remember that I loved even when it was foolish and that I cared even when it was unwanted. When my body is gone, remember my heart."
A quote that
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