Nursing Homes Practice for Fire
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
As Nashville recovers from the nursing home fire that killed at least eight elderly residents, local nursing homes say they have plenty of procedures in place in case of a fire.
Briarwood Nursing Center says the staff has monthly fire drills on each shift.
Staffers learn how the fire alarm box works, how to locate a fire, and they practice their evacuation routes.
There`s not much the residents can do, but stay put until the staff comes to help them.
"You do an actual drill with them, show them how the box works and if there was a fire, take out the ambulatory patients first, then your wheelchair patients, and then the patients in beds, that you would actually have to push the bed out," said Julie Harrod, Central Arkansas Nursing Centers.
The Briarwood Nursing Center sits in a newer building with more modern fire protection than the building that burned in Nashville.
It has a sprinkler systems, automatic doors, and a digital alarm system.
