Church offers triage for fire victims
Rouse Hill Times
| 19 Nov 2011
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Quakers Hill Anglican Church in Sydney was transformed into a triage centre to care for residents from Quakers Hill Nursing Home and their families.
Five elderly people have died and 32 are receiving emergency care after yesterday morning's fire.
A male nurse who worked at the home has been charged with four counts of murder, but this is now likely to be raised to five.
Dozens of local parishioners and ministry team members joined Quakers Hill Anglican minister Geoff Bates, Stanhope Gardens Anglican minister Steve Reimer as well as ministers from nearby Catholic and Uniting churches to care for the residents.
Mr Bates said he offered the church building to emergency services at around 6.30am, with a bus load of 17 patients arriving at 7.30am.
``You ask yourself how can you help in this context,’’ he said.
``We offered family members a place to wait for news, help with patient comfort so they were not out on the street and keep them warm.
``The biggest issue for us was to reassure them and make sure that they and their family were okay.’‘
Residents who live near the scene of the fire also had words of comfort and support for emergency services involved in the Quakers Hill Nursing Home evacuation.
Michael Sartor, who lives at nearby Denton Rd, awoke to the sound of sires about 6am.
``I heard sirens and just thought it was police pulling someone over. I didn’t see any smoke around.
“They (emergency services) have done a great job,” Mr Sartor said.
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