In the early hours of October 9, 2017, the most destructive wildfire in California history to that point bore down on the City of Santa Rosa. Among the thousands of buildings and businesses affected were nursing homes. Here’s how two memory care facilities responded.
At Villa Capri, four staff members were working overnight on October 8, left in charge of 62 residents in either memory care or assisted living. The executive director had failed to ensure that all of them were familiar with the facility’s emergency procedures or participated in emergency training as required by state law.
Staff helped evacuate some people but left more than 20 behind.
A staff member contacted the Villa Capri administrator at 11:30 p.m. when the power went out. She did not try to go to the facility until after she was contacted again at 1:30 a.m. After she was unable to reach the site as it was being overtaken by flames, she went home. She eventually showed up to an evacuation center at about 6 a.m. the next day.
Residents stranded at Villa Capri were later rescued by family members, friends, and first responders. State investigators concluded more than 20 people left behind at Villa Capri would have died if not for valiant efforts to save them AFTER staff departed.
State regulators moved to revoke the facility’s license and sought lifetime bans against two of the company’s top administrators that would prevent them from ever again working in assisted care facilities licensed by the state. The owner settled a major lawsuit brought on behalf of 17 residents.
The company incurred irreparable damage to its reputation in the community.
Four miles away, the executive director of Primrose Alzheimer’s Living rushed to his facility, less than a mile from where the fire was raging.
While the facility was not in the main burn zone, embers had ignited a fire at a gas station 500 feet from Primrose.
When he arrived, the staff was executing the emergency plan. They were calm because they conducted full evacuation drills every month. They knew the facility had a backup generator with ample fuel. There was enough food in storage to feed the residents and staff for six weeks. The backup generator kept the facility’s well running smoothly.
The executive director called memory care facilities outside the fire-affected area to ensure they could provide shelter and services for his 40 residents if evacuation became necessary. He watered down the facility’s roof repeatedly to keep embers from igniting the building.
After the emergency, he and his staff evaluated their performance. They realized they could have done a better job of keeping residents’ families informed that their loved ones were safe and developed improved procedures for the future.
Are you positioned to be the Primrose of your industry, or the Villa Capri?
Primrose didn’t start out as prepared as it eventually became. Resilience is a muscle you can build if you start exercising now.
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