On February 23, 2020 the New Haven Care Center experienced a scare of a possible fire which resulted in an evacuation of the building. Firemen and police officers were quick to respond to the call and were there in a few minutes. A Google form was sent out to the sunshine helpers who were at the Care Center on the day of the incident.
When asked how the incident started, Lauralie Grater, senior, responded with, “I was in the kitchen mopping the floors when me and Bobby, one of my coworkers, [smelled] something funky. So Bobby ended up finding the smoke and we called the fire department.”
Destiny Lafferty, senior, said, “I was working as a sunshine helper that night but unfortunately I do not know how it started.”
Natalie Pecaut, senior, replied with, “I was not working that day but when I heard what was happening, I was hoping everyone got out perfectly fine.”
All businesses have an evacuation plan, so the sunshine helpers were asked what they had to do during their evacuation.
“I was helping the nurses evacuate the residents by helping them down the stairs,” said Destiny Lafferty.
“The nurses were evacuated [from] all the rooms and when they had them out of their rooms, the sunshine helpers, kitchen workers, and other staff members that came to help moved the residents to rest away from the smoke on the other end of the building,” replied Lauralie Grater.
Natalie Pecaut stated, “Since I was not there during the incident, during an evacuation I would help in any way I can and help the residents get out as quickly and safely as possible.”
When asked if they handled the situation well, all the sunshine helpers stated that they handled everything in a smooth manner. No one was hurt and the nurses made all the residents feel comfortable and assured them that everything was okay. New Haven is very lucky to have nurses who know what they are doing and who got everyone to safety that night.