Doctors scramble to find new homes and recover from Oxnard fire
By Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star, Calif. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Three days after the fire that evicted more than 15 doctors and providers,
Tooth brushes, drill bits, a nitrous oxide cart and 31 boxes of paper records spilled from a storage unit next to railroad tracks. In a baseball cap, UCLA T-shirt and jeans, Kappes picked through the inventory -- some of it wet, some dusted with soot -- trying to figure out his next step.
"There's nothing we can't work through, but it's going to take hours and hours and days and days," Kappes said. "I feel like my head's like 'Oh, my God.' "
The
Dentists, physicians and their employees watched as fire and water consumed their working lives. Some cried. Others shot video. A construction official involved in the building's recovery said it will be uninhabitable for at least a year.
In the days that followed, doctors scrambled for temporary offices. They salvaged records and worried about laws designed to protect patient privacy. They posted handmade signs in front of mounds of burned debris, alerting patients of their limbo.
THE DAY AFTER
Police tape blocked the driveway. Tenants sat in the parking lot, waiting for a chance to salvage computers and soggy X-rays. Once inside, they used smartphones to navigate pitch-black hallways and offices transformed into caves, water dripping from the ceiling.
Lopez lives in
Parked in front of the building, he called the clinic, his health insurer and then started working his way through a list of urgent care centers.
In the middle of the search, his cellphone rang. It was Dr. Soliz.
"She asked me if I didn't mind getting treated in a parking lot," he said.
They met in front of a
They repeated the scene on Tuesday. In the meantime, administrators at
"They lost their office. They have no equipment. They lost everything," said
On Wednesday, Soliz and her partners moved into an office still barren of furniture. Employees sat on counters as they called patients to tell them of the fire.
When Lopez showed up at the end of the day to have his wound dressed, he focused not on the new office but on the doctor willing to treat him in a parking lot.
"That's the most amazing thing," he said. "She could have sent me to an urgent care. She's got all my respect."
SOGGY RECORDS
of Soliz and her
Still, the day after the fire,
Doctors worried about the law, too, although a
Dr.
As he watched the fire on
Somehow, the server survived. Stein still needs new hardware to set up a permanent practice. But he can see his records.
There are other hurdles. Stein and his staff called patients. They set up referral systems for dental emergencies. They talked to information technology specialists, scrambled to replicate tax data destroyed in the fire, bought a laptop and negotiated with insurance adjusters.
"It's literally like I'm a juggler and I have all of these balls in the air," Stein said.
Progress was made. An insurance check for property damage could arrive in several days. Stein found office space just two blocks from the burned building. His practice could be up and running in the next week.
It's the kind of move he thinks he should have made long ago but never did until there were no other choices.
"I see God pointing his finger in one direction for me," he said. "I think it was probably pointed for a long time, but I was too stubborn or stupid to see it."
NO CHOICE
The records of about 10,000 patients under the care
A fence barricaded the burned building. Security guards kept watch day and night. Tenants weren't allowed in the building because of safety concerns.
"It's leaning toward accidental," said Battalion Chief
It's too soon to know if the structure is totaled, said
"All of the tenants will have to find places for their practice," he said. "They can't wait that long."
Dentist Kappes is a low-key, transplanted Midwesterner who plays golf when he has time. That means rarely.
He worked out of the
The first could involve dentist offices willing to provide him space for a day or two a week. Then he needs a temporary office where he can practice full time. After six months, maybe a year, he hopes to find a permanent home, meaning a long-term lease, city permits and special plumbing.
His paper patient records are still legible, but many are wet and smeared. The documents and X-rays need treatment. He's been told his losses will be covered. He's been told insurance will also provide for the lost wages of his seven employees.
He knows he'll recover. He's not sure exactly when.
"It feels like there's much more to do than you have hours to take care of," he said.
"It's like, man, all those hours cleaning and sterilizing everything," said
Sanchez, 30, of
The fire made her worry about her job. Kappes assured her it's safe. Her economic losses, like his, should be covered by insurance. Still, the blaze made her cry. Standing there watching the fire burn, she felt paralyzed.
Others came to watch, too, people with no attachment to the building, drawn by the drama. They snapped photograph after photograph. It bothered her.
"They saw it as entertainment," she said. "It's like, 'That's my life and that's my friends' lives.' "
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(c)2014 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.)
Visit Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) at www.vcstar.com
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