5 months after Matthew, patients return to A.R.C. of Hope Mills
HOPE MILLS, North Carolina (WTVD) -- The A.R.C. of Hope Mills is welcoming back its Alzheimer's patients. Its facility flooded out during Hurricane Matthew. With no flood insurance, it leaned on the community for support.
Volunteers helped clean up what the storm left behind, and Tuesday, patients who were sent to facilities in Onslow and Harnett counties, returned.
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They were personally escorted by staff who were overjoyed and overcome with emotion.
Cindy Jacobs runs the facility and knows every patient by name. For the past five months, she feared that the move would confuse her residents and that they wouldn't adjust.
PREVIOUS STORY: HOPE MILLS ALZHEIMER'S FACILITY GUTTED BY FLOODS
"I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. Every day I kept thinking we were a little closer and closer and it's finally here," Jacobs said. "After five months and six days it's finally here."
Many of the residents came home to new rooms. Everything from furniture and bedding had to be replaced.
For Ms. Helen, an Alzheimer's patient dubbed the "Queen of the Arc", the facility's new piano was the highlight of her homecoming.
"It's alright, it's alright, it's alright," Helen sang.
The instrument washed away in the flood waters. Someone donated a new piano to the facility.
The A.R.C. of Hope Mills is still in need of donations as it continues recovery efforts. You can find out more about the A.R.C. here.
