DETROIT, MI — The recent deaths of three elderly residents and injuries to five others at the Northland Nursing Center has prompted one Michigan legislator to step up efforts to make air conditioning in Michigan nursing homes mandatory. Senator George Hart (D-Dearborn, MI) is planning to introduce a bill requiring all nursing homes in Michigan to have air conditioning in resident rooms and common areas by June 1, 2002. Most nursing homes in Michigan currently do not require air conditioning.

The bill may face stiff opposition from the Senate’s Senior Citizens and Veteran Affairs Committee. Committee chairman Matt Dunaskiss (R-Lake Orion, MI) said he doesn’t consider air conditioning a major policy issue and that the matter is “best left to the marketplace.”

Publication date: 07/09/2001