Notes from Nancy Nielsen, Deputy Director in charge of San Francisco programs -It was an exhausting but also good experience for our staff and our partners as we were able to respond to the needs of the residents and coordinate an appropriate response. When we first heard about the blast Friday morning NEAR to 990 Polk.  None of us had any idea of what the next 36 hours would bring.By about 4:00pm we began to get word that it would most likely be 12 - 24 hours before the building would have power.  Our first response was to look for food for that evening's meal for the residents who would have no cooking facilities, limited funds to go out to eat, and serious mobility issues that would make it unsafe for them to exit the building using the emergency stairs.  Even if they could make it down the stairs from the top floors, getting back up would be problematic.

While the onsite staff ordered pizza and developed a plan to take it to every floor, Mecca and I began looking for flashlights and lanterns.  It was past 5:00pm when I put in a call to Brian Regin from the Red Cross who is the new chair of NorCal VOAD.  I told him we were looking for about 120 flashlights plus lanterns for the common areas.  His response was immediate!  "One of our partner agencies needs help: we'll be there.  

At the same time, our on-site Public Health Nurse began making arrangements for respite care for a few of our wheelchair bound residents with additional health concerns.  She also arranged to get all of the resident medications that are kept in a refrigerator in her office moved to a nearby health clinic that did have power.

Just before dark, the Red Cross folks with their huge RV full of flashlights and other resources including volunteers arrived and set up camp in front of our door.  They helped LSS, DPH and property management staff go door-to-door and do wellness checks and hand out flashlights.  This was a huge source of comfort and reassurance to the residents --even the one resident who refused to go to respite care and insisted in spending the night in his wheelchair in the first floor lobby where he had been when the power first went out.  We finally provided blankets since he was totally adamant about not leaving the building.

 By 7:00am the next morning Red Cross had confirmed with PG&E that it was going to be least another 12 hours and possibly longer before we had power.  They moved ahead and ordered take out breakfasts from a nearby diner and then helped us deliver them.  Meanwhile onsite staff continued to work with DPH to make arrangements to get transportation for another resident on the 9th floor who needed to get out of the building for kidney dialysis treatment.  We were able to coordinate with DPH and the SF Fire Department to assist him safely down 9 flights of stairs!  He was then transported to his appointment. 

By noon the Red Cross folks had worked out arrangements with PG&E to be sure that the cost for meals for this building would be reimbursed by PG&E!  They ordered lunch from Subway and again worked with on-site staff to deliver meals -- this is the clip you see on the news video.  (The presence of the huge Red Cross vans provided the media teams that were everywhere with a great background for reporters! They also kept the PG&E workers supplied with coffee and snacks!) 

By about 7:00pm last night we got partial power -- the elevators and emergency lighting in the hallways and staff offices were working!  By that point in time Red Cross had worked out a deal with the local Kentucky Fried chicken franchise to get dinner for all of the residents.  Meanwhile, on site LSS staff worked to create a notice that we could give to all residents when we delivered dinner advising them that after 24 hours the food in their refrigerators was not safe to consume and telling them that we would be coming to help them empty their refrigerators on Monday morning.  We had also learned that they could apply for reimbursement from PG&E for any losses so we told them we would help them fill out a claim form which would need to list their losses.

The dinner delivery was much easier than breakfast or lunch since we didn't need to carry everything up 9 flights of stairs!  The power to the resident units finally came back on about 9:30pm.  We did one more round of wellness checks to help some folks plug appliances and electrical items back in.

I was able to secure a large quantity of "green" recyclable composting bags to use to collect food from resident refrigerators tomorrow morning.  At least we can reassure folks that the loss of food is not a total waste as it will go into compost and we will also help them fill out claim forms for their losses.  We will do an extra large order from the Food Bank which will be delivered on Thursday so folks can restock their supplies at least to some extent.

Click Read More to see the news video.