KOHL’S STATEMENT ON THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE KATRINA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, released the following statement today on the second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy:

“During Hurricane Katrina, 71 percent of those who died were over the age of 60. Two years later, our country still lags far behind on the issue of emergency preparedness for older Americans. I am encouraged that provisions attached to the recently passed 9/11 bill will soon require all state and local mass evacuation plans to include specific procedures to inform the elderly before and during an evacuation. However, many other challenges lie ahead. Most urgently, I believe we must strengthen the federal standards for nursing home emergency plans, and this fall I intend to introduce a bill to do so.”

For more information on the provisions Chairman Kohl successfully added to H.R. 1, Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 Conference Bill, please click here: http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=279941&