IceStorm 98 Study

Mr. Irving supervises nursing services on the Rehabilitation Ward of Kingston Psychiatric Hospital (KPH). During KPH’s response to the ice storm, Mr. Irving commenced the operation of the “Penrose Shelter” which served the community-at-large.

The supply of electricity to Ian Irving’s home was not disrupted by the ice storm that struck the Kingston area on the night of Wednesday January 7th, 1998. Ian went in to work at KPH as usual on Thursday and Friday, January 8th and 9th. He assisted in preparing the hospital to receive out-patients and former patients from group homes in the community. At home, 5:00 p.m. on Friday he received a phone call from Judy Frawley, Associate Director of Nursing, asking him if he was available to assist with the management of the hospital’s response to a crisis due to the weather. He agreed and at 6:00 p.m. he returned to KPH where he met with Hospital Administrator, Wayne Barnett and Ms. Frawley. He was told that they had decided to open the Penrose building as a shelter for general citizens of Kingston and surrounding area.

The Penrose building had been closed. Heat had been maintained at 58 degrees F but plumbing had been shut-off and sealed in plastic. Windows had been taped. To prepare Penrose for use as a shelter, it was cleaned and its plumbing re-opened. Sleeping areas were set up. A command centre was established. Linens and supplies were brought in. Food and feeding was organized. A registration desk was set up. Phones were installed and communication with the main hospital and the city hall command centre was organized.

The media was informed of the opening of the shelter which would provide 24 hour relief: beds, meals, showers, some refrigerators, a washer and dryer, a playroom for children, TVs and VCRs, videos and games, volunteers for children and an activity room for adults. The shelter was independently powered. It had a capacity of 400-500 people, two per room with some larger rooms for families. The privacy and additional space of the Penrose shelter offered greater comfort than a cot in a gymnasium.

Establishing the Penrose shelter required the commitment of the KPH administration, the cooperation of maintenance, housekeeping and nutritional services and the help of staff from all parts of the hospital who volunteered to get the shelter ready. Volunteers, both staff and from the community, became very committed to the shelter, returning through-out the week to see what they could do to help.

Mr. Irving was initially given sole administrative responsibility for the Penrose shelter. Then it was shared with Paul Miller, to run it 24 hours per day. Beverley Jones joined the administrative team on the following Wednesday (January 14).

The Penrose shelter was ready for its first guest by 8:00 p.m. Friday, January 9th. However, because of communication problems, people were not aware of what KPH was offering as early as they could have. The first guest for Penrose did not arrive until the following day. In the end, it was the last public shelter closed and took in people from all of the other shelters as they were closed.

About money and resources, they tried to act responsibly. Nothing that was needed was withheld. Mr. Irving recalled that Administrator Wayne Barnett said “We need to do what needs to be done for the people in the Kingston community. Whatever it takes, let’s do it.” KPH initially supplied towels, linens, soap and food. Later, other items came from Red Cross and Salvation Army including cots, sleeping bags and food. No specific budget was set by the hospital. Its attitude was that what needed to be done would be done and done well.

With the shelter in operation, decisions needed to be made around such issues as obtaining the resources needed for safe and healthy operation. They were conscientious about addressing the possibility of flu and cold viruses being spread and about general infection control with the large number of people having been brought together. Recruiting and deploying staff and volunteers required decisions. As did security for the building, nursing care for infirm elderly guests transferred from the two general hospitals and coordination with the other services in the area including the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

The “tri-partite” operation of the Penrose shelter started on Monday January 12th following a meeting with Mark Edmonds (Red Cross) and a gentleman from the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army role was food preparation for the shelter. The Red Cross assisted with registration and obtaining supplies.

There are things that they learned they could do better if called upon in the future. For example, they learned how to do the registration of guests better from the Red Cross. Internal KPH communication was good but Mr. Irving said that better communication with the city command centre and other services would have permitted earlier and better use of the KPH site. External communication then was the biggest challenge. People would have been more comfortable had they known that the Penrose facility was available. It may have also been administratively and operationally advantageous to reduce the number of shelter sites. He suggested that the Canadian Forces Base hospital could also have been an effective shelter location.

Mr. Irving noted that this ice storm was a disaster without much “trauma”. Had there been a disaster with more serious personal injury, the general hospitals would have been required to deliver trauma services instead of shelter. The advantage of using KPH for a shelter is that it has the human resources, the material and the equipment already in place, and operates 24 hours a day.

What went particularly well? Mr. Irving said that it was the commitment and cooperation of staff and volunteers. He felt that things ran very smoothly. People exercised their judgment and autonomy. They knew what had to be done and were allowed to do it.

Have things changed as a result of the ice storm experience? Debriefing has been held with the city and others with the objective of reviewing the municipal emergency plan. The discussion included “what worked well?” and “what can be improved?” It is Mr. Irving’s opinion that the decision-makers were not aware of the resources and the degree of self-sufficiency that exists at KPH site. He thinks that they are aware now.

300 or so out-patients were brought into KPH for shelter.

Media contact that Mr. Irving had included information that the shelter was open and what it had to offer. He was interviewed by CKWS-TV on Tuesday or Wednesday, January 13 or 14. The CBC also did a story on the last couple to leave the shelter. They were an elderly couple, the husband of whom is blind.

Once the Penrose shelter was publicized, there was a jump in registration. Mr. Irving also felt that as time without electricity increased, people’s ability to cope diminished and they decided to use the shelter.

The Penrose provided shelter to 170 people. They represented a broad cross-section: from a three week old to a person 100 years old, single parent families, full large families, single youths, elderly couples and street people. (From the attached report, it is noted that 22 emergency response staff of the Ministry of Natural Resources from Sioux Lookout and Dryden were hosted for two nights.)

Do you think people were reluctant to come to a shelter at KPH out of fear? “Absolutely!” answered Mr. Irving. People commented that they would rather go home and freeze than go to KPH. They didn’t want to go to the loony bin. A positive, earlier promotion would have been good for service and for breaking down some of the stereotypes about mental illness. “Sometimes when you hear people talk about the health care community of Kingston, KPH isn’t always mentioned. They really want to be a good community citizen and I think they are… and don’t get the opportunity or recognition that they deserve.” So about having the shelter at Penrose was “good that people got here who had never been here… It is unfortunate that people who might have been able to use the shelter, didn’t allow themselves because of this (biased) mindset.”

Was stress a concern? Certainly it was stressful for others who were not in their normal surroundings. For his own situation, he did not lose power. He saw the shelter as an opportunity for him to do something for KPH. To deal with the frustration of others who were in the shelter, they used the skills of people in the hospital who are used to applying de-escalation techniques. KPH has the people (psychiatric nurses, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists) who are used to handling these situations. Penrose’ ample space allowed for isolation of people who were venting their frustration.

What he will recall best is how the people worked together including a staff person who volunteered, Mary Stevenson and Hugh, a volunteer from the military. They shared humourous moments, experiences and the success of operating the shelter. There was no staff whose performance at the shelter disappointed Mr. Irving.

He noted that there were some individuals who took advantage of the shelter. They could have returned to their homes earlier but their normal home situation was not as good as the Penrose shelter. But this was not seen as a big problem.