This too, shall pass

Sometimes things happen that are unexpected. What’s the right way to react to this? To rail against the circumstances and say “why me” “why us” or “why now”? Should we add to the railing and wailing some sad faces, tears, rage, and stomping about?

None of that matters, and none of it will fix anything. What happens is often beyond one’s control, so the best move is to plan for the days ahead keeping a cool head and a calm demeanour. My colleague recently had a fire in her office. The flames and the water to put them out sure did a number on the devices, furniture, paper and everything else in that office. I felt sorry that it happened and said so, along with an offer to help. My colleague is carrying on and if you saw her at a meeting you wouldn’t know the mayhem taking place back at her office.

And then last Friday happened. One of the affected businesses labelled it a “Traumatic Transformer Event” on their Facebook page. I know of four businesses affected, including Community Care. Something went wrong and high voltage was sent into our building, and the others, as a transformer was changed. Last Friday there were many electrician trucks, hydro trucks, HVAC technicians, and more congregating in Market Lane, figuring out the next steps.

At the time of writing this column I don’t know the extent of the damage. The worst case is that every electronic and electrical device in our office was destroyed by this monstrous power surge. That could include the HVAC unit, computers, appliances, photocopier, TVs, lights, the telephone system, and the list goes on. A team of electricians is coming back Monday morning to get to work to fix this. The repair has to meet the requirements of the electrical inspectors. There is a long road ahead that includes sorting out the power and replacing all the damaged and destroyed equipment.

No amount of moaning and groaning is going to fix this turn of events. All of the business owners are getting things lined up to get back to work. All of Community Care’s onsite programming for the next while will be moved to another location. We need to give the experts time and space to do the repairs. All of our off site programming, such as transportation and Meals on Wheels, will continue as normal. Staff will be moving temporarily to an off-site location.

We can’t answer the phones right now, but the system is still taking messages. Please call the office at 613.476.7493 and leave a detailed message. Staff will call you back.

We’ll post regular updates to Facebook, so please go there to find out the latest news on the catastrophe.

I’m going to seek to emulate my colleague’s outwardly calm response to the disaster affecting her operation. In that community, seniors are still being served. Just as seniors will still be served here in Prince Edward County. Community Care has been operating for almost 50 years. We can survive a huge power surge. We can if we work together, remain calm and approach the future with patience and optimism. What’s that saying? This too shall pass.

Debbie MacDonald Moynes is Executive Director of The Prince Edward County Community Care for Seniors Association.