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Grim limbo for NYC's nursing home evacuees

Elderly
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NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of elderly New Yorkers evacuated from seaside nursing homes and assisted living residences after Superstorm Sandy are still in a grim limbo two months later. They are sleeping on cots in temporary quarters, with little privacy or other comforts.

Their plight can be seen at places like the 240-bed Bishop Henry Hucles nursing home in Brooklyn.

Close to 190 extra patients have overwhelmed the facility, bunking on rows of cots in the chapel and in rooms previously used for physical therapy or community activities.

The crowding may have led to lapses in care. One 69-year-old patient left the nursing home unnoticed on Dec. 14 and was missing for two days before she was found.

The facility's owner says the staff is doing its best.