Formal Update

Dear Terraces Families and Friends, 

First of all, I hope you and your loved ones are holding up as best you can under the circumstances. As we all try to absorb the enormity of this tragedy, I can’t help but mourn the loss of our beautiful building, our sense of community and the special family we created in our little nirvana. Our thoughts go out to all of you who either lost homes yourselves or have been displaced. Many of our staff are in that very predicament. Your loved ones are in flux, many of them lost items of great monetary and sentimental value and we are all in a state of shock. But we have to pick up the pieces and move on. Sadly, the Terraces is no more. 

I want to give you a timeline of events as best I can, so you understand how events unfolded on the terrible day of January 7 and how our staff responded to, literally, save the lives of your loved ones.  

At around 6pm, smoke started to enter the building. At that time, many families who had seen the news, came out to the Terraces to pick up their loved ones. That was not possible for everyone, as everything unfolded so quickly. Shortly thereafter, our staff undertook an immediate evacuation of the building. Fortuitously, we had done a mock evacuation on November 20, so residents and staff were all prepared, although we never imagined we’d need that training so soon.  

Staff members, literally, carried residents down stairwells on their backs, in wheelchairs and in our emergency evacuation chairs stationed at every exit. Other staff members helped residents who were more ambulatory get to the 7-11 at the corner, where our driver, Sammie Dauphine, took some residents in the van, while others were bussed by the city of Pasadena to the Civic Center, where several more residents were reunited with family. Employees who weren’t even on shift came in to assist voluntarily with the evacuation and at the Civic Center. Terraces leadership, caregivers, servers from the dining room, maintenance staff; we all came together to evacuate the building safely in about an hour.  

From there, we worked feverishly to find temporary placement for all our residents. In the end, we safely evacuated and relocated 93 residents in 11 hours. I hope you can appreciate the magnitude of that feat. It was an extraordinary achievement accomplished by an extraordinary group of individuals who came together as a team—a family— and made a miracle happen for our beloved residents. Your loved ones remained calm and our employees did their jobs flawlessly to make it all work.  

Our residents ended up temporarily at 10 different locations and we deployed Terraces staff to all 10 locations, so your loved ones would have a sense of familiarity, safety and continuity. I’ve never been prouder to work with a team—and for an organization—ours led by CEO, Adam Khalifa.  

Since that time, The Terraces leadership, including Adam, have been working in a command center-style set up in the lobby of his hotel in Arcadia. I’ve been leading an effort to find permanent placement for all residents who want and need my help. Many of you have spoken with Sharon and/or me to find permanent placement and are currently in process with other communities to move in. My goal—our goal—is to keep as many Terraces residents together as possible. There are two communities that can take a total of about 20 residents each. I’ve already negotiated rates on your behalf to match the base rate you were paying at the Terraces, or as reasonably close as they can come.  
Our staff—names you know and names you don’t—are also gathering donations of supplies and delivering them to our residents at their various locations. 
These are all the things we’ve been working on in our control center. 

We are not required to help with placement, but we are the Terraces, and we will not abandon our residents and families! If you are interested in having your loved one live among several other Terraces residents and you are not currently in process with one of those communities, you should contact Cynthia or Jeannine at Pasadena Highlands at 626-791-1981. Tell them you’re coming from the Terraces. They’re holding rooms for us and they will honor pricing within reason. The living arrangements might not be ideal initially, but you can get on their internal waiting list for an apartment more to your liking. Please discuss that with them.  

The other community is called Hillcrest and it’s in LaVerne. A little further out than some of you might prefer, but remember, there will be about 20 familiar faces in the dining room, at activities, etc. Please reach out to Shirley at 909-392-4111.  

I’m hoping to one day start Social Cafe at both communities. That family is too important to break up and I will not let that happen, as long as I have any control over it.  

Behind the scenes, the wheels are already in motion for an almost immediate rebuild. We hope to reopen in 2-2 ½ years and at that time, we hope everyone will come back home to the Terraces and we can recreate, to the best of our ability, what we had. I know many residents, family members, employees, and directors are on board with that vision and ready to go when we are!  

Let me shift gears into business mode, as I’m sure many of you have questions.  

Your last billing day was January 6. For those of you who were paid up through January, refunds will be issued. Please be patient, but Maggie will get you your final statement and we hope to get those refunds out by the end of the month. Please let us know to whom the check should be made payable and an address to send it. If you have any further billing questions, please contact Maggie at 626-233-9055.  

Our Wellness Coordinator, Letty Martinez, has been working with many of you on getting prescriptions refilled and shipped to the appropriate address. If there’s anything further you need for proper transfer of medications, please contact Letty at 626-563-3376, or me if necessary. For those residents who are home with family members, obviously, you should make arrangements with your local pharmacy if you haven’t already done so.  

We’ve had several inquiries about a Go Fund Me page for Terraces employees and residents and I will get back in touch with more detail on that effort. 

I think most of you understand that the building is gone. There is nothing to be salvaged. If your loved one has renter’s insurance, you should contact your provider immediately.  

Please don’t forget to submit a change of address form to the post office.  

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me, but please be patient. We are working in overdrive to help find everyone safe, happy, comfortable new homes! 

Love, 

Sam