After spending five days at Bromfield, John Larochelle prepares to be relocated to another shelter. (Photos by Ellen Harasimowicz)
After five nights in the shelter at Bromfield, the Patuto family packs up to move to another shelter so the public schools could open Thursday morning despite the fact that hundreds of families were still without power. Families were expected to drive their children to school in the morning because there will be no bus service until Jan. 5.
Two years ago Harvard public safety officials offered slim hope of a swift response in a widespread emergency like the one that hit town this week. At an emergency-preparedness forum sponsored by the Council on Aging, Police Chief Ed Denmark, Fire Chief Bob Mignard, and then-Ambulance Squad Director Alison Lierhaus warned senior citizens that they should prepare to weather any emergency in their own homes for a couple of days, at least. The town was working on a comprehensive emergency plan, but it would take quite awhile to pull it all together, officials said.
As it turned out, the plan “came together” pretty quickly last week, said emergency dispatcher Pat Natoli, who managed to secure 100 cots and other supplies Friday morning, just in the nick of time.
Natoli, who lives in Maynard, happens to be chairwoman of that town’s Medical Reserve Corps, and was able to get a trailer full of cots, blankets, and other emergency supplies from the Maynard Fire Department—supplies that would have been sent to Worcester if Natoli hadn’t diverted them here.
Meanwhile, Council on Aging Director Ginger Quarles was working with police to identify the town’s most vulnerable residents and get them to the shelter at Bromfield. Many of them were still at the school Wednesday morning as the shelter prepared to close at noon. According to firefighter Justin Hoisington, anyone who couldn’t go home yet would be moved to the Hildreth House, which did have heat by then, to say nothing of a sizable kitchen.
More than 40 residents slept at the school over the weekend, Hoisington said, and well over 100, on average, showed up for dinner. Many of them were elderly, but there were also families with young children, and teenagers playing games, watching television, and using the gym.
