By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
NEWPORT – After squeaking through the night of generator power with limited light and no television, the residents of Oceanview Senior Living in north Newport packed up and moved out.
“We just decided to move them Sunday night,” said Jeanette Ivan, the center’s executive director. “There’s some areas in here that are still warm enough from the generator heat, but it’s just like, it’s not comfortable and happy when you don’t have electric and so we just figured we’d put them up in a hotel.”
Oceanview had been working with emergency service providers after electricity went out Saturday. Its backup generator and batteries lasted only so long, but the Newport Fire Department was on the spot with more generators.
“The fire department, the hospital, the head of emergency services, the sheriff’s department, everyone has been involved,” Ivan said. “Actually, the school district and everybody helped us move people last night. So it’s been going really well.”
Rumors the 75 residents and staff would be seeking shelter at the Newport Recreation Center, which opened an emergency shelter Sunday morning, were not true, Ivan said.
“There was never a plan to go to the rec center,” she said. “There were just emergency services helping. We were trying to figure out where we could go and keep them the most comfortable.”
Residents with questionable health or those who needed to be lifted were taken to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital. Others were retrieved by family members. The remaining 41 residents plus staff were taken to a hotel in Lincoln City.
“There was nowhere else to go,” Ivan said. “We have an emergency evacuation plan with the Best Western right here. We called over and over again and they were down as well. Everyone was down all the way past Fred Meyer and then the hotels past there, their computer systems were frozen.
“So the quickest and best route that we could find was Lincoln City and so we just did all hands on deck until about midnight last night and got everybody there.”
The evacuation was “amazing” Ivan said. They used Oceanview’s 25-passenger day-use bus, county and school buses and ambulances.
“I’m going to do huge Facebook post and tell everybody in this county thank you so very much,” Ivan said. “Because they helped us save people. I mean, nobody was hurt but they were horribly uncomfortable and that sucks. You sit in your room for days with no TV or anything and it’s dark.”
The lack of electricity and phone service did hamper contacting residents’ families, but Oceanview posted messages on Facebook and left a note on the front door with Ivan’s cell number.
“So everybody’s safe and happy and healthy and basically they’re having a vacation right now,” she said.
But like all vacations – there is a price.
“It was over $30,000 in hotel costs,” Ivan said. “We are not scrimping. And we have it again for tonight (Monday) just in case because we know it’s the major transformer that went out. But I’m just really pleased with how things went. It’s not ideal but it is what it is and I think it’s pretty dang good for what’s going on. We didn’t expect this at all.”
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com