Safe Sound

By Andrea Busche

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Thursday, April 26, 2018, is surely a day that Twin Ports residents will remember for years to come. This was the day Superior was rocked by an explosion at the Husky Energy oil refinery. The blast, which injured 16 people, sent a massive plume of black smoke into the air, sparked a mandatory evacuation across the city and was broadcast on national TV news.

On the bright side, there were no fatalities. The evacuation, ordered by Superior Mayor Jim Paine, was considered a success. Things certainly could have been much worse.

For many residents, evacuating was simply a matter of jumping in their cars and heading out of town. But for the vulnerable residents of Superior’s New Perspective Senior Living, which includes memory care, assisted living, independent living units and residents in hospice care, evacuation was a complicated affair.

Fortunately, staff and residents said, the evacuation went smoothly; everyone was swiftly transported to secure locations and returned safely the next day. Some of the residents even considered it a bit of an adventure.

Plans A, B and C

For Jeffrey Bergum, executive director of New Perspective Twin Ports, the day was a wild and crazy one. Their facility’s location at 1915 N.34th St. was far enough away from the refinery where the event initially went unnoticed, although a few residents and staff returning from appointments said they had felt the explosion.

After turning on the TV, it was immediately clear that Bergum needed to jump into action.

“After learning what had happened from seeing it on TV, we began monitoring the Douglas County and Superior Police Department’s social media pages very closely,” he said. “Our maintenance director began calling agencies, and I called the mayor’s office to get more information.”

Once Bergum learned that a three-mile radius around the refinery was under a mandatory evacuation order, it was time to put their emergency evacuation plan into effect. “At New Perspective, we have a Plan A, a Plan

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B and a Plan C,” Bergum said. “Plan A was to bring residents to Superior Middle School, which was out because of the three-mile radius. Plan B was to bring them to a local church, which we couldn’t implement for the same reason. We immediately had to jump to Plan C, which was to work with other assisted living facilities and hotels outside of the evacuation zone.”

All hands on deck

While Bergum was the leader and main point of contact for the evacuation, all staff members jumped in to help. Nursing staff, housekeeping, senior leadership, and the dining and caregiving teams all contributed to the effort.

“Many of our care staff also showed up in street clothes on what was supposed to be their day off, ready to help,” Bergum said. An employee was assigned to work the front desk, answering phones until 8:30 p.m.

New Perspective corporate headquarters, located in Eden Prairie, Minn., immediately implemented an “all hands on deck” mentality. That meant sending six buses, driven by executive directors, management and the head of finance to Superior for resident transportation.

The safety and well-being of the residents was of the utmost importance throughout the event. That included keeping them informed.

Resident Lorrie Hutchinson said, “It was not chaotic at all. At around 1 o’clock, we were told that we might possibly be evacuated, and we should think about what we’d need for an overnight stay. The evacuation went amazingly well. I was impressed.”

Meds, canes, walkers and wheelchairs

Staff worked closely with each of the 116 residents to ensure they were set up with five days’ worth of medications, unsure of how long the evacuation might last. Oxygen tanks were filled; canes, walkers and wheelchairs loaded into the buses.

Arrangements were made to transport hospice patients to Solvay Hospice House or St. Luke’s. The rest of the residents were split up between Superior Rehabilitation Center (which was outside the evacuation zone), New Perspective’s Cloquet location, and Black Bear Casino Resort Hotel. Some residents were picked up by family members. A master list of residents was closely followed for sign-outs, and plenty of support staff accompanied residents on each bus.

Fun at Black Bear

The residents who were assigned to travel to Black Bear made the best of the situation, enjoying their night of adventure. Depending on their abilities, they either dined at the buffet or enjoyed pizza delivery. Someone was even rumored to have won $270 at the casino.

“Believe it or not, New Perspective had actually planned an outing to Black

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Bear Casino the day of the explosion,” Bergum said with a chuckle. “We canceled it because not enough people had signed up.”

All residents were transported home to New Perspective the morning after the explosion, once the evacuation order was lifted. Staff members made phone calls to families, reporting their loved ones’ safety, and residents settled back in at home. After an unusual day and night, everyone was safe and sound.

A success — which will hopefully go unrepeated Bergum said he’s proud of New Perspective’s effective evacuation plan and pleased with how things went. “We’ll continue to review our plan, which we consider a living document,” he said.

“In the end,” he said, “we write up protocols, share them with state and local officials, but in the heat of the moment, we just have to go. I am so grateful both to Superior Rehab and to New Perspective leadership, who immediately asked, ‘what do you need?’ Our community as a whole, including Duluth, worked wonderfully together.”

Lorrie Hutchinson added, “I was impressed with how things went, but I hope we don’t have to do it again.” D