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Nursing home finds sanctuary
By EDIE GROSS © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 Employees weaved among residents' wheelchairs, delivering cups of cool water and words of comfort. Other residents lined up outside, patiently waiting their turn to board a yellow school bus to the Church on the Hill in East Lake, their shelter as long as Hurricane Georges remains a threat. "It's a lot of movement," said Mieczkowski, 81. "Sort of an unusual feeling. "This is the first time in my life I'm running from this situation," said the New Jersey native, who had never experienced a hurricane. "It's something new." Mieczkowski and 97 other residents who moved Friday to the church on East Lake Road seemed to take the evacuation in stride. Rather than worry about the coming storm, those who sat outside waiting for the bus said they enjoyed the morning sunshine. "We're making it like a field trip for them," said unit director Janet Parrent, one of 50 employees who reported for work at 4 a.m. "A lot of them are kind of excited. It's something different." The nursing home at 515 Chesapeake Drive sits on Tarpon Bayou. The last time the facility evacuated its residents was during the no-name storm of 1993. Since then, the staff of more than 100 people has rehearsed for just such an emergency. They called residents' families to tell them of the evacuation and helped each resident pack three days of clothes. To account for everyone, employees with checklists noted what time residents boarded a bus and what time they got off. Employees, who will sleep at the Church on the Hill with residents, said they were relieved to know their spouses and children could stay with them. "We were all allowed to bring families -- and we're going to put them to work too," said Parrent, whose 12-year-old daughter, Tabatha, was helping out during the evacuation. Resident Roy Onischak, a man of few words, grinned and nodded after hearing that he would probably be inside the church before any rain hit Tarpon Springs Friday afternoon. "Good deal," said Onischak, who cracked a smile and told a visitor he was 18. Tom Jones, 87, said he was not too happy about having to leave his room at Tarpon Bayou Nursing Home. "It's terrible. I'd take Georges instead," said Jones, who was trying to remember why he moved to Florida from Oregon. "I don't know why I left."
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ARPON SPRINGS -- Henry Mieczkowski sat quietly in his wheelchair Friday morning, contemplating the activity around him in the lobby of the Tarpon Bayou Nursing Home.
