Marianne Wohler (below), Valle Verde's director of nursing, comforts and evacuee of the Jesusita fire, which was visible from the campus. "Photos by Don Chalfant, Valle Verde resident. Used with permission."
The idea of a disaster drill is to prepare for a situation you hope you never face.
But it had been only a week since the last emergency drill at Valle Verde, an ABHOW retirement community in Santa Barbara, Calif., when the Jesusita wildfire began raging through the hills outside the city on May 5.
Though the fire never directly threatened the community, it served as a major relocation center for residents at other communities forced out by evacuation orders. As such, things got busy very quickly on that Tuesday afternoon, says Ron Schaefer, executive director at Valle Verde.
The situation was especially challenging for Schaefer because he was in Monterey, attending the annual conference of Aging Services of California. In his absence, Jenny Firth, who had just been promoted from human resources generalist to director of human resources, took responsibility for accepting the first wave of evacuees.
“It’s very notable that she, as a brand new department director and during her first administrative coverage for the whole campus, had to take this on,” Schaefer says. “But she used her head and listened to the wisdom of her peers and did a great job.”
By late Tuesday Valle Verde had already taken in 16 residents of an assisted living community. By Wednesday that number had grown to 30, 10 of whom required memory support.
But Valle Verde’s staff and its residents rose to the occasion. While employees assembled Red Cross cots and processed evacuees, residents visited with newcomers at 2 a.m. – “just kind of being sensitive, loving companions, because the people who were here had a lot of needs,” Schaefer says.
By May 8, Valle Verde had taken in 139 people from various communities. The evacuees returned to their homes or other locations by May 10 after evacuation orders were lifted.
For Schaefer, his employees and residents, it was an intense few days that he likened to being in a MASH unit. But in the end, he believes the experience was a positive one.
“It’s a good learning experience, it’s a good building experience and I’m glad we were able to serve the community, because those people would have been in a bad place if we hadn’t been able to help,” he says.
About ABHOW:
Founded in 1949, ABHOW is widely known for its pioneering leadership in senior housing and health care. The company serves more than 4,700 residents in 33 retirement communities in California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington.
To learn more about ABHOW visit www.abhow.com.
This article originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of ABHOW Words.
6/4/2009, 2:19 PM
