A frozen pipe that broke set off an alarm and the sprinkler system at Avamere Twin Oaks Rehabilitation and Specialty Care Wednesday afternoon.
Residents were quickly moved out of the affected south wing of the building, located at 950 Nandina St.
Firefighters and police officers responded to the alarm at approximately 3:30 p.m.
“The fire alarm went off,” said Angela C. Poirier, resident care manager. “We thought it was a drill.”
As staff reacted to the alarm, they didn’t see the maintenance man as they would expect in a drill, she said. It turned out that the alarm was caused by a leaking pipe. The pipe was pouring water out of the ceiling in the recently remodeled bathroom in the south wing.
Staff immediately started evacuating residents from the south to the north wing, she said. They had them all settled in the north wing within six minutes.
The leaking pipe and a damaged sprinkler set off the alarm, which set off additional sprinklers and flooding the south wing and dining room area. The ceiling collapsed in the shower room and in two residential rooms, one which had recently been remodeled.
After evacuating residents, staff and residents’ families started throwing down blankets and linens to keep the flooding from reaching the north wing, Poirier said. A couple of staff members shut off the water.
Firefighters and police officers helped move belongings, push water out the door and clean up.
While staff and emergency workers were busy, “I actually had all of the residents down this hallway (north), so we just started taking care of them,” Poirier said. “We sang Christmas carols. The kitchen staff showed up with snacks.”
After the cleanup, Twin Oaks’ bookkeeper took the linens used to stop the flooding to a local laundry, which opened back up just to clean the linens. Clean linens were back within two hours.
“I was about ready to leave at 9 o’clock, and the alarm went off again,” Poirier said, but the facility wasn’t flooded that time. Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District responded to the alarm and checked the damaged rooms.
The south wing remained closed on Friday, Poirier said. Twin Oaks discharged three people Thursday and Friday. The facility was able to make room for everybody else.
Twin Oaks filled empty rooms, turned its therapy room into a residential room and turned a three-resident room into four.
Twelve residents were affected, Poirier said. The facility houses 36 right now.
For the next couple of weeks, Twin Oaks will keep extra staff on until things can be set back to normal.
During the emergency, Twin Oaks’ sister facility, Lebanon Rehab, sent extra staff and maintenance crew to help out, Poirier said. Lebanon’s administrator even showed up to help mop up water.
“It was pretty amazing,” Poirier said. “I was so proud of my staff.”
She thanked the laundry, police and fire personnel.
Twin Oaks is a skilled nursing care facility for recovery from acute medical issues and providing long-term care. It also cares for a large population suffering from dementia.