By Don Urquhart, Times-Chronicle
As Osoyoos found itself fully engaged in the ongoing Nk’Mip Creek wildfires over the last two and a half weeks with evacuation alerts and orders, and thick choking smoke for days on end, senior living facilities in town were prepped for action.
While the developing situation proved challenging for many young residents of Osoyoos, seniors’ homes had an extra level to prepare for given the higher vulnerability of many of their residents.
“Residents and team members at Mariposa Gardens Retirement and Care Community are keeping safe during this time,” Nadia Daniell-Colarossi a spokesperson for Sienna Senior Living said.
“The wildfires are causing uncertainty for the community, but we are grateful for all the heroic efforts of BC Wildfire Services and community fire departments.”
Kim Grassick, Recreation/Events coordinator at Sunshine Ridge Seniors Community said: “there is a good portion that suffers through this, but the majority haven’t let it bother them too much. I know there is some anxiety with them from time to time.
“In these cases, we try to reassure them it’s the other side of the lake and in Oliver. We try to keep them calm and keep them busy with activities. We just kind of go about business as usual that way we keep their minds off of it,” she added.
At Mariposa, residents are staying indoors because of smoke, and programs have been adjusted to ensure they can continue enjoying as many activities as possible. The same strategy is being employed at Sunshine Ridge with Grassick adding: “For the most part I know the ones that are on oxygen and whatnot are really struggling with the smoke.”
Air scrubbers have been deployed at the Mariposa residence to ensure the air quality within the care community remains safe, according to Deniell- Colarossi who added that the home’s teams have undergone training sessions with Interior Health on air quality and wildfire management.
At Sunshine Ridge, Grassick says some of the main air conditioning was shut down in the hallways and common areas to reduce the amount of smoke that might be introduced into the building through the air intakes.
Residents also have their own air conditioning in their suites and they can seek advice from staff if they want to purchase air purifiers, but as she notes, these are likely out of stock in many stores due to the province-wide wildfire situation.
And while evacuation orders and alerts have gradually been coming off various areas in Osoyoos/Anarchist Mountain and Oliver/OIB land, both Mariposa and Sunshine Ridge are prepared in event of an evacuation order being issued.
At Mariposa, Deniell-Colarossi said, “we have a robust plan in place in the event that we need to.” This includes preparation for various scenarios on how the wildfires may impact its community.
“We are working closely with the health authorities and are ready to implement wildfire/code green (evacuation) preparedness and smoke mitigation/code grey procedures as needed. In addition, team members have completed a full review of supplies required for evacuation to ensure we are prepared. We have offsite evacuation agreements and transportation in place,” she added.
“Team members are communicating regularly with families via phone calls and emails to partner with them to ensure the care and safety of their loved ones.”
For Sunshine Ridge, local management has been working with the home’s parent company – VRS Communities Society – to firm up protocols for evacuations, building on other safety measure already in place.
In the event of an evacuation, impacted residents who do not have family to stay with, would be temporarily put up at VRS facilities in Penticton, Kelowna or Vernon, Grassick added.
At the beginning of the fire, the home communicated with families of residents to ask those who could manage it, to take their relatives into their own home for a week or so during the worst of the fires. “The residents have already packed their overnight bags and we’ve sent out notices, and we’ve made sure they’re ready to roll!”
