5 years ago
"Please if y'all leave, take my mom," recalls Dale Sanderson.
Those were the last words she said to the staff at St. Rita's Nursing Home in Louisiana's Saint Bernard Parish, where her 85-year old mother lay bedridden. With Katrina on her way, the Sandersons had no choice but to leave her behind and evacuate.
The family says she was suffering from Alzheimer?s, heart failure and diabetes.
Their last dinner with her was on Saturday, two days before the storm. Her body was found amid the flood waters along with at least 31 other people who didn't make it out.
By all accounts before Katrina arrived, there was time to take the elderly patients out. According to CBS News, the nursing home had been offered several buses to evacuate everyone, but the owner turned that offer down, only to change her mind two hours later. By then, it was too late.
"I think they waited too long and they should have made that decision earlier," says Dale.
The Sandersons say they don't know who is ultimately responsible for their mother's death, but they question why an emergency evacuation plan wasn?t in place to get all of the patients out.
"Had there been a plan in place, had there been vehicles available, whether it be on a state level, something should have been dispatched to the home to take care of those people," says Robert Sanderson, Dale's husband.
Now living with their daughter and her family in Gainesville, Virginia, the Sandersons say they're grateful they survived despite losing their home, their belongings, and the beloved mother they visited every day.
Written by Nancy Yamada
