Vermilion, LA – Friday night, crews worked to get more than 100 residents of a Vermilion Parish nursing home back inside after a carbon monoxide scare. The leak was caught early enough and no one became sick.
It happened at Pelican Pointe Nursing Home along Milton Road in Maurice. The facility was quickly evacuated, sending 117 residents outside during the chilly night. But these men and women were not left out in the cold long, all thanks to some good neighbors.
The carbon monoxide scare sent 117 residents, most of them elderly, out into the chilly 42 degree night Friday. The Amana Christian Fellowship, just up the road from the nursing home, was a god send.
“I got a phone call that they needed the church. I was about five minutes away. We opened the doors and they became to come,” says Senior Pastor Terell Reed with Amana Christian Fellowship.
“I tell you it was amazing, they were actually wheeling them down the highway, and coming into the parking lot with wheelchairs and just going in,” says Senior Pastor Reed.
Fire Chief Matthew Trahan credits several agencies with handling a critical situation, and that’s not all.
“(Also) The family members that came forward to help. We have a whole lot of people to thank, and thank God with a carbon monoxide leak we have no injuries,” says Matthew Trahan, Maurice Fire Chief.
That family, becoming an extended family tonight, the warmth of complete strangers battling the freezing temperatures.
“Because we all know each other. And they are family even though they’re not related,” says Linda Broussard, as she helped residents evacuate.
“Thank you,” says Lona Broussard, resident at Pelican Pointe Nursing Home.