eirian84's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Roof's on Fire! ^_~v 22 days. Jeez. Sorry. Gah. I finally have a day OFF! It's gonna go much too fast, & then I'm gonna have to do it all over again. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. So much has happened in the last 22 days. Let's see... The major, major thing is, there was a fire at the nursing home where I work. Yes. And I was there when it happened (No, I didn't set it, though we were joking with the residents about playing with matches). Okay, so this is how it went (& trust me, I've gone over it enough times, I've got it set in my mind). One dark and Stormy Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I'm on break. We have a red cart that we use to transport dirty linen to the Dirty Linens room, where they're picked up to get washed. So, I go back there & toss all my bags of dirty stuff into the bins. Just as I'm leaving the room (@ approximately 1:40), there is this HUGE bang/clap/crash (or as I've been describing it, kraKOOM!), like, right above me. I'm standing by the metal garage doors, & my first thought was that someone ran their car @ about 40 mph into them. Thunder. It's okay, KT, don't pee your pants. I get back to the break room & Dana, the North Charge for the night, is just coming in from her smoke break (we're a smoke-free facility, so the smokers have to go all the way to the street, & it's raining.) She was just keying in her access code when it sounded, & she said she did about pee her pants. But I digress. So, okay, lightning really close by, it's a storm, it's not the first time lightning's struck a tree or whatever in our town. Hardly. So, I go back to eating. 2:01 am. The alarm goes off, complete with flashing lights and a recorded voice saying an alarm has been triggered. Damnit, I have 10 more minutes of break left, & I'm not done eating. But I stuff as much food as I can into my mouth, then toss the rest away. I'd thought about just staying there, thinking it was a drill, but the House Supervisor never came over the PA system - no one came over it except the recording. So, I went to find out what's going on. When I do find the nurse, the first thing she says is, "It's not a drill, there's a fire on 600, I need you to help them evacuate residents." Well, shee-yit. And other curse words. So, long story short, lightning hit the roof just over room 602. The fire spread through the attic for approximately 20 minutes before the smoke set off a fire alarm. Our call light system and the phones went down when the lightning hit (hence why no one over the PA system). From 2am until about 4 or 4:30, we were moving & taking care of residents. All of the South Neighborhood (three wings, full, which is approximately 20 people per wing, = 60 elderly people, mostly in wheelchairs) had to be evacuated, & were eventually moved to other facilities. When it all started, I thought we'd just evacuate 600. Then when we evacuated everyone because of the smoke (let me tell you, fire doors might stop a fire, but they don't do squat for smoke coming from the attic), I thought it would just be for the night. Eventually, as the night wore on, I figured they'd get back in their rooms within the next day or two. At one point I heard (I don't know from whom) they'd have to stay out for 24 hours (maybe one of the firefighters). Dana said by the time they evacuated the last people from 500, the water (from the sprinklers) was ankle-deep, & it was so smoky she couldn't see the ground. By the time we were ready to get clock out, & the Director of Nursing spoke to us (the noc shift & day shift that had come in early), she said it would probably be 2 weeks before they started moving people back in, due to the smoke & water damage. So they're sending people to Seward, to a facility that had an empty wing, so they have about 20 of our residents, & to Friend, where they have 5. The local hospital (which the nursing home is affiliated with) has 5 patients that have dialysis, so during the day & evening there's an aide there, but @ night it's so slow that they've stopped sending someone (bummer; I read most of a book one night @ the hospital. It's so super quiet there @ night). I'm not sure where I heard (or read; it's been in the paper a couple times) it, but at one point I heard it would be 2 months before they were moved back in. Ugh. They're gonna try moving residents back into 400 pretty soon (400's light care; a lot of them went home with family, or facilities we aren't sending aides to). 400 didn't have any water damage, just smoke, so it's been easier to clean up. 4th of July came and went, & I had to work that night. Bitch. I hate working 3 days in a row. That's why I went to part-time; so I didn't have to do that anymore. Not only did I have to work Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, I also have to work Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Grr. But! Once I'm off work Monday morning, I will be off until Saturday night, the 22nd! Two beautiful weeks of no heavy-lifting, no changing soiled pads, no helping people get dressed, or go to the bathroom; nothing but what I want to do, which includes swimming at Kim's apartment. I talked to Kim yesterday, & she kept saying, "Don't forget to bring your swimsuit." Yeah, like that's gonna slip my mind. I haven't gone swimming in... probably at least 5 years, possibly closer to 10. & I love to be in the water. I'd say I love to swim, but the fact is, I don't know how to swim. I've tried learning, but I'm too afraid I'm gonna accidently inhale water & choke. Yes, I'm a supreme wuss. Umm, anything else?... I ordered like, 4 or 5 books from Llewellyn.com. Llewellyn Publishing prints all sorts of New Age books, especially concerning Wicca. I'm hoping they get here before I leave Monday, but since this is a 4-day week, & it's gonna take 4-6 business days... they're coming from Minnesota, so I'm holding out hope they'll be here tomorrow (Friday). 5:17 p.m. - 2006-07-06 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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