Kitty Askins moves back
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 5, 2016 10:02 AM
Kitty Askins staff and patients, displaced since flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, are back home on Wayne Memorial Drive.
Patients and staff returned Friday, said Mary Bartlett, vice president for finance and CFO at 3HC.
The forced evacuation, perpetuated by an estimated 17 inches of rain that came inside the building, prompted the transfer to O'Berry Center until the hospice center could be occupied.
The facility has 12 beds on the residential side and 12 on the acute care side, the latter added in 2011. Some water also got into the new addition, but damage there was limited to the carpet in the hallway and the wood floor.
"All 12 beds (on the acute side) are full now," Mrs. Bartlett said. "We moved in Friday starting around 9 o'clock. Everybody's moved in. Everybody's happy.
"There's new carpeting, vinyl, wood flooring."
The residential side experienced the most extensive damage, she said, and is still under reconstruction.
"It'll be probably late January before we can move back there, with sheetrock and things (still to do)," she said. "We cannot occupy that side but we're at half capacity."
The disruption forced the center to stop taking patients in the interim.
"We didn't accept more patients than what we knew we could take (at O'Berry)," Mrs. Bartlett said. "All the patients that we had we were able to accommodate."
She said they were fortunate to have contractors working to expedite the move back to the center, "working tirelessly" to complete the renovations in recent weeks.
She also praised the staff for its handling of the situation.
"They always had a smile on their face, our patients were able to have the same compassionate care from our staff at O'Berry Center that they have always enjoyed at our beautiful Kitty Askins," she said. "Our staff is delighted to be back home at Kitty Askins now."