JAY — At the Jan. 11 board of directors meeting, administrators praised Regional School Unit 73 staff for their efforts to help patients and caregivers from Pinnacle Health and Rehab during the Dec. 19 and 20, 2023, flooding.

“I wanted to recognize and thank Norma Jackman, Ken Vining, Laura Merrill and their dedicated employees for going above and beyond in helping our friends at Pinnacle Health and Rehab during the flooding right before Christmas,” Superintendent Scott Albert said. “We received a message stating they desperately needed our help. I reached out to Norma [Jackman], Ken Vining] and Laura [Merrill] and with no hesitation whatsoever they and their staffs were on it making sure we were able to get them here and taken well care of.”

Jackman, transportation director, recognized the team of custodians and drivers who volunteered to help with evacuating the facility in Canton to get them safely to Spruce Mountain High School where they could be warm, fed and have a safe place to sleep. “Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency were here to set up cots with the help of our custodians and cafeteria staff and Pinnacle staff,” she noted.

“People step up when needed,” Vining, facilities director, noted.

Merrill, food service director, also thanked her staff in her report.

Pinnacle Health and Rehab is located at 26 Pleasant Street in Canton, near the intersection of routes 140 and 108. It is also near Lake Anasagunticook which is also known as Canton Lake. The lake’s watershed empties into the Androscoggin River through Whitney Brook which runs along Pleasant Street in close proximity to the facility.

Last week the Livermore Falls Advertiser reached out to the nursing home and assisted living facility for more information.

“We couldn’t get buses to us from our normal evacuation people,” Marcia Chaisson, unit coordinator for assisted living at Pinnacle, said. “They couldn’t come up from the Rumford/Mexico area, they couldn’t come through the flood to get to us. We couldn’t come from the Buckfield/Hartford area.

“Spruce Mountain graciously said, “We can help.” They coordinated on their end, rounded up volunteers because some of their regular staff themselves couldn’t get out of their homes.”

Chaisson said the school district had to round up enough bus drivers for the evacuation. “They told us that they could be here at a certain time and we started getting our residents ready to leave,” she noted. “I don’t know how long it took to coordinate on their end. They were here at 9:30 a.m. in the morning when the first buses arrived on Tuesday.”

The residents arrived at Spruce Mountain High School in time for lunch, then the following day the first bus was ready to head back to Pinnacle at 10:30 a.m., Chaisson stated. “Once again, we were back for lunch time,” she said. “It was quite the effort.”

There were 62 or 63 residents in assisted living at the time and 37 in the nursing home, although Chaisson thought three of those went to a different nursing home because they required a higher level of care than was available at the school’s gym. She said it was difficult to know exact numbers for her staff involved as things were changing all the time.

“Staff members were from all three shift,” she noted. “Different staff were able to make it, some worked longer hours, extra people worked on their days off. My staff was amazing during that time, they really were. They saw a need and pitched in where needed.”

Several residents had dietary needs requiring ground or pureed textures or thickened liquids, Chaisson said. “That was taken care of by the kitchen help,” she stated. The  food was processed the way it normally would have been done at Pinnacle, she noted.

The evacuees were served lunch and supper on Tuesday and breakfast on Wednesday, she noted. The Red Cross provided cots and blankets for the residents and staff, she said.

“It was pretty amazing to see Spruce Mountain transportation department pull together and help us as much as they did, along with helping to load the residents, transport the residents and unload them,” Chaisson said, admitting she was trying not to choke up. “They were an amazing group. It was great to see them work together, work alongside our staff.”

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