Florida Governor Imposes New Rules After Nursing Home Deaths
在养老院发生死亡事件之后，佛罗里达州州长推出新的规定
Gov. Rick Scott of Florida announced new rules on Saturday requiring nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in the state to have generators capable of maintaining comfortable temperatures for at least 96 hours in the event of a power loss.
佛罗里达州州州长Rick Scott星期六宣布了新的规定，要求该州的养老院和生活辅助机构在停电的情况下，能够有发电设备，在至少96小时内保持舒适的温度。
The governor’s announcement came three days after eight residents of a nursing home in Hollywood, Fla., the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, died when the home lost power to its cooling system in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
州长的公告发布于佛罗里达州的好莱坞一家养老院有8位老人去世后的三天。好莱坞山的一家康复中心在飓风艾尔玛到来后，它的冷却系统因停电而无法工作。
The public outcry over the episode has intensified after the home said that its staff, or people calling on their behalf, had contacted the governor himself, as well as the power utility and several county and state agencies, to get the problem resolved, to little avail.
在康复中心宣布他们的员工，或者是他们的代表已经联系了州长本人，同时也联系了电力系统和几个县和州级的代理，力图解决这一问题，但收效甚微。公众听到后表示强烈抗议。
Under the new rules, all of the state’s assisted-living facilities and nursing homes will have 60 days to obtain what the governor’s statement called “ample resources” that will “sustain operations and maintain comfortable temperatures” for at least four days after a power failure. Those resources, the statement said, include a generator and fuel.
新规定发布后，州内所有的生活辅助机构和养老院将有60天的时间准备以获得州长声明提出的“充足的资源”来“保证运作和维持舒适的温度”，并在停电后保持至少4天。声明中提到的资源包括发电机和燃料。
The emergency action also requires that the state fire marshal inspect the generators within 15 days of installation.
这一紧急行动还要求州消防领导人在发电机安装15天内前往检查。
In his statement, Mr. Scott warned that failure to comply would result in fines and the possible revocation of a facility’s license.
在他的声明中，Scott先生警告说没有执行的话将面临罚款并有可能吊销执照。
Lauren Schenone, the governor’s press secretary, said the rules were effective immediately and would last 90 days, after which they could be renewed. She said that Mr. Scott would “fight aggressively” to put the rules into law, and that the rules do not include state support to pay for what could end up being daunting expenses.
州长的新闻秘书Lauren Schenone说规定立即生效并持续90天，之后可能延长。她说Scott先生将“积极争取”以使规定纳入法律，且州政府将不会资助支付这笔可能会是较高的支出。
“It is our expectation that these facilities will do everything they can to protect lives,” she said.
“我们期望的是这些机构要尽他们的可能来保护生命，”她说。
In response to criticism over the home’s attempts to get the government to help, a spokesman for Mr. Scott has said the calls made to the governor were referred to the state Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Department of Health and quickly returned.
针对康复中心试图请求政府提供帮助的批评，Scott先生的发言人说，打给州长的电话当时转给了国家卫生管理局和佛罗里达州卫生部，且当时立刻就回复了。
Florida requires nursing homes to ensure emergency power in a disaster as well as food, water, staffing and 72 hours of supplies. A new federal rule, which will not be enforced until November, adds that the alternative source of energy must be capable of maintaining safe temperatures. But it does not specify that the source of energy must be a generator, or that the energy source must power air-conditioning.
佛罗里达州要求养老院确保灾难中的紧急电力，以及食物、水、人员和72小时的供应。一项新的联邦法规将于十一月实施，它补充提出，替代能源必须能够保持安全的温度。但它并没有明确说明能源的来源必须是发电机，或者能源必须为空调供电。
The nursing home under scrutiny in Florida had a generator, but it did not power the air-conditioning. Hurricane Irma had affected a tree that apparently hit the transformer that powered the cooling system, leading to fatally hot conditions in the home.
涉事养老院有一台发电机，但它没有给空调供电。飓风艾尔玛吹到了一棵树，砸坏了为制冷系统供电的变压器，导致养老院内的致命高温。
Overhauling health care rules — even after problems arise from natural disaster — can prove challenging. Hospitals and nursing homes have sometimes pushed back against requirements, arguing that they are costly, unnecessary and a particularly crushing burden on smaller homes.
即使在自然灾害引发了问题之后，依照医疗保健规定进行修缮也具有相当的难度。医院和养老院有时对要求提出反对意见，认为这些费用昂贵、不必要，而且对小型养老院造成的负担相当沉重。
In a telephone interview on Saturday, Martin Goetz, the chief executive of River Garden Senior Services, a nursing home in Jacksonville that did not lose power or air-conditioning, said the governor’s newly imposed requirements would be “impossible” for many homes to comply with in such a short time.
在周六的电话采访中，位于Jacksonville的一家名为River Garden老年服务中心，它并没有在飓风中失去动力和冷气，它的首席执行官Martin Goetz说，州长新提出的要求对于许多养老院来说，在这么短的时间内完成是“不可能的”。
“What I think nursing homes will do is buy a lot of fans,” he said. “You can’t just go triple and quadruple generating capacity.” Doing so, he said, takes planning, reviews and approvals — all of which takes time.
“我认为养老院要做的是买很多的风扇，”他说。“你不能就那么去增加三到四倍的发电量。”他说，要达到这个要求，需要计划，审查和批准等工作—这都需要时间。
The governor, Mr. Goetz added, is “shooting from the hip” and choosing to require more resources, when in fact, “the problem at the Hollywood facility was a failure of management.”
Goetz先生说，州长这是“胡说八道”，并且要求要更多的资源，而事实是“这家好莱坞机构的问题是管理的失败。”
Robert E. Solomon, a division manager at the National Fire Protection Association, said the emergency rules also seemed “like the kind of thing that normally would have to go through a public rule-making process.”
国家消防协会的一个部门经理Robert E. Solomon说，紧急规则似乎也”应该走公共法规制定的程序“的。
“The idea and intent is worthy,” he said, “but that is a lot of generator capacity, design, installation and inspection to complete in 60 days.”
“想法和初衷是好的，”他说，“但如果在60天内完成如此大的发电机容量，设计，安装和检验时间太短。”
Others welcomed the rules. Gail Coleman, who runs Gail’s Assisted Living Facility in Tampa, said that they were “a good idea” and that she planned to buy a generator. Her home, with eight residents, lost power for four days after the storm. “Times like these you find out exactly what you need and should get,” Ms. Coleman said.
其他人欢迎这些规则。Gail Coleman，在坦帕经营Gail’s生活辅助中心，说这是“好主意”，她打算买一个发电机。她家有八名居民，风暴过后停电了四天。科尔曼女士说：“这种时候，你会发现你到底需要什么，应该买什么。”。
Dr. David Marcozzi, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who helped develop the federal rule, praised the governor’s action.
马里兰大学医学院的副教授David Marcozzi博士，曾经帮助完善过联邦政府法规，他赞扬了州长的行为。
“I think this is a bold move by the governor,” Dr. Marcozzi said. The new Florida initiative “sets firm requirements and provides needed specificity to protect residents and patients,” he said.
“我认为州长的举动是大胆的，”Marcozzi博士说。佛罗里达州新的倡议“确定了严格的要求，并为保护居民和病人提供了必要的明确要求。”他说。
Kristen Knapp, a spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association, an advocate for nursing homes, said her group was reviewing the rules.
Kristen Knapp，为佛罗里达州医疗协会的发言人，一个疗养院的支持者，说她的小组正在审查规则。
Gail Matillo, president and chief executive of Florida Argentum, which represents assisted living communities, said the industry was still evaluating the rule’s impact and had several questions for regulators.
佛罗里达州白银中心总裁和首席执行官Gail Matillo，代表了生活受助社区，说业界还在评估规则的影响，并有若干问题需要提给监管者。
On Friday, a state senator filed legislation that would require nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to have working generators. A similar bill collapsed in the State Legislature in 2006, in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, when it met with strong industry opposition.
周五，一名州参议员提交一项法案，要求养老院和生活辅助机构要有工作用发电机。2006年，一项类似的法案在飓风Wilma过后，在州议会中失败，它遭到了业界的强烈反对。
重点单词汇总
nursing home：养老院
power loss ：失去电力
power failure: 停电
natural disaster: 自然灾害
generator: 发电机
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