The Monument Fire: Caregiving During Evacuation

Fire climbs up Miller Peak.  View from our office.

First a big thanks to the fire crews, the city and county personnel, the volunteers, the lodging places, ranches, pet boarders, nursing homes, assisted living homes, the hospital, and so many people who are helping with this fire and the problems it has caused.

Our part is very small indeed. We have merely made sure our elderly and disabled clients continue to receive services during and after evacuation. We did have to prioritize. Someone who needed housekeeping can wait a few days so someone who needs more personal care receives it.

Fortunately, the evacuations did not come all at once. We monitored the radio, the very useful Facebook page Monument fire az, the Wundermap, the city and county pages, Fort Huachuca's Facebook page, apb online for a fire personnel radio feed, and the Sierra Vista Herald which posted updates to the evacuation map that proved very helpful. Many of these web sites and pages shared useful links to get information about the fire, and posted information as it came in. That continues as of this writing.

Facebook as a disaster relief communications center? Really? Well, yes, that is what happened. I did check Twitter for #monumentfire, but I did not find that nearly as helpful. It should be kept in mind that in other kinds of disasters the internet might not be functional.

First we tracked our clients and caregivers homes on our scheduling system's map and printed it out. So, thanks to Appointmate for that useful feature. Then we highlighted evacuation and pre-evacuation zones as well as road closures on those maps.

With maps in hand, we started calling clients and caregivers in the pre-evacuation and evacuation areas to warn them. Some had heard, some had not. We asked if they needed help should they have to leave. We asked where they would go, made sure we had telephone numbers for their destinations. We called family members of clients who could come get their relatives when necessary.

One of our very disabled clients was with our caregiver when the evacuation order was given suddenly. This was when the fire jumped Highway 92 and was traveling quickly towards homes in the area. It was a dramatic, if minor, evacuation, leaving everyone a little frazzled, but safe. This client is staying in the hospital for now, and his wife is staying at a hotel.

The caregiver involved had to evacuate her home later. With the worries about her client, her house; and her husband working all night with emergency services on post, she did not sleep that night and cancelled work the next morning. We re-scheduled her clients. Caregivers who could, stepped up and took on extra work for caregivers who had to be evacuated.

One client needed a prescription delivered to him in Palominas. A caregiver drove the back roads to get around the closures and deliver his meds. She tried to talk him into leaving, but he was determined to stay put.

Yesterday, that caregiver had to evacuate her own home when a fire broke out on Fort Huachuca near her neighborhood. Thankfully, that fire was brought under control quickly and she was able to return home the same day. A few clients in that area also returned home in the evening.

One of our caregivers is staying in the shelter at Apache Middle School, but still working! I am sure it is more pleasant to spend several hours in a client's home, than to sit in the school facilities with many other people. All the same, she could be moaning her lot and asking for help. Instead, she's helping others.

The grey-haired disaster relief brigade? Don't underestimate little old ladies! We have caregivers in their 70's and early 80's who are working through this! We have men and women of all ages who are doing a great job.

Telephone calls continued each day as we listened to worried employees and clients, wondering if they will have homes to return to. We re-assigned caregivers as needed, and updated them on where their clients were staying. Esther, our office manager and scheduler, has taken the brunt of the phone calls and scheduling tasks. It was getting emotional, as she put it, listening to everyone's worries.

Smoke from both the Monument Fire and the Antelope Fire.

So far, so good, we have kept track of clients as they moved to shelters, and some moved back home. No one has lost essential care services. It is now Saturday, the fire seems to be lessening, but that can change. We can all pray for less eventfulness. But at least we are all getting our jobs done!