Fire victims move to temporary lodgings

Residents are settling in at their new temporary home in Stayner while they await the reconstruction of The Belmont.

On a frigid but sunny Wednesday morning, a number of residents were sitting by the fireplace, watching a big screen television, while the piano was being tuned in the background.

Residents moved in Sunday after an agreement was signed with the Township of Clearview to rent the municipally-owned building that formerly housed Stayner Care Centre for one to two years.

At a table, Jane Forster and Betty- Ann Scott are having coffee.

“What a nice job they have done,” said Jane, who was once the owner of Huron Guest Home, in the same location where she took up residence before the fire.

The staff has done everything possible to give the space a feeling of home, incorporating The Belmont’s colours, the formal table settings and personalized service.

On the morning of the fire Jane was guided from her room and out of the building by PSW Laura Bradey. She had three others in front of her as some were forced to abandon their walkers and make their way downstairs.

Laura said the smoke was so thick that she had to use her shoulder to guide her along the wall.

The staff managed to get 23 residents out of the building in six minutes, the last one emerging just as firefighters were arriving on scene.

“Never in a million years do you think you’ll be put in that situation,” said Laura.

Forster had enough time to throw on some clothes and grab a few of her possessions, but others weren’t so lucky. Still, she had to leave the home without shoes and crossed the highway to the church in bare feet.

“But we were all out and safe. They have done what they can to make it feel like home,” said Jane. “Considering what happened, the staff have been wonderful.”

Betty-Ann believes she may have been one of the first people evacuated. Still in her nightgown, her PSW helped her put on her shoes, she grabbed her blanket and made her exit. Unfortunately she lost her hearing aids in the fire.

“Until you live through that you have no idea,” she said, pointing out that everything she now wears has been donated. She lost everything.

Betty-Ann was one of the 14 residents who relocated to a hotel in Midland while temporary shelter could be arranged. All agree that everyone is happy to be back together and grateful that no one suffered major injuries.

The staff is stressed and exhausted from the fire and subsequent relocation, but residents expressed plenty of gratitude this week for the care they have received.

Owner Jon Wells and manager Karin Bradey said they are grateful to the township for offering use of the former long-term care facility but the transition was not easy.

Karin said there was huge outreach from family and community members. After some cleaning and painting efforts were underway, township staff would not allow volunteers to continue their work.

“[The] lack of flexibility meant we were left with only two days to prepare the building adequately for our senior clients, which significantly hampered our efforts,” said Karin.

She said The Belmont Stayner Inc. had a configuring stage of the lease that was backdated to Jan. 16, and maintained proper insurance on the old Jarlette building, yet they were not permitted to continue with preparations even though they were not using construction workers or tradespeople.

All the preparations were to fall on the staff.

“As a locally owned small business with just nine employees stretched thin between Midland and Stayner, we have been working tirelessly to address this crisis,” said Karin. “The taxpayers deserve to know the full extent of these challenges. While we appreciate the due process and procedures in place, this is a crisis situation that could have been handled with more care, diligence, and urgency. Although we are grateful for the township’s offer to use the space, working with them has not been the easiest experience in a crisis.”