The Parkerville fire first responders are today’s Anna Alderson Nominees!

In the lead up to the Anna Alderson Awards we’ll be announcing the latest nominees each weekday. The winners will be announced at our end of year event. Today’s nominees are:
 
Glenn Allsop, Scott Perry, Harrison Kamau
 
Nomination 1
“On the 20th January 2022 a potentially devastating event took place at Rise’s largest Supported Accommodation home located in the outer Hills suburb of Parkerville.

The picturesque Hills location was tinder dry and it was around 40 degrees when three Rise Support Workers heard the sound of popping at the rear of the property. The staff investigated and realised that the popping sounds were in fact the sound of tyres on the Rise vans exploding under intense heat from a large fire that was burning out of control in the natural bush behind the house.

Scott, Harrison and Glenn were the workers on shift that day, and the actions they took next may very well have saved the lives of the ten residents that were relaxing at home that afternoon. When it became apparent that they couldn’t access the vans that are modified to support people who use wheelchairs, the three staff quickly hatched a plan to escape via another exit and safely evacuated everyone from the building.

Wheelchairs had to be abandoned as the staff recognised that any delay would mean the client’s lives were at greater risk. Non-verbal communicators, people who require PEG feeds and specially modified wheelchairs, a blind resident, along with people with various other high support needs were safely removed from the building that was now beginning to catch on fire.

The staff worked together to orchestrate a mammoth task in physically lifting people out of their wheelchairs and safely into the staff member’s own vehicles – hatchbacks mainly!
All ten clients were safely accommodated across the three cars and were evacuated away from the property and to the safety of a nearby business, where the staff made contact with Rise management. Emergency services were quick to arrive at the scene and the house was able to be saved, however there was extensive damage done.

Glenn, Scott and Harrison acted calmly and responded to the situation with bravery and courage and kept our clients safe and relaxed. They transported everyone to Rise’s head office in Middle Swan where they assisted in arranging food, medication and other basic requirements while alternative emergency accommodation was arranged.

It was an enormous wider Rise team effort after this point, however the fact that our residents were now safe rests entirely upon these three staff members. Harrison, Glenn and Scott were heroes this day, and their actions are more than worthy of the Anna Alderson award – they represent each and every one of our Rise values in their everyday work, however on this day their actions reflected their integrity. They put their own fears aside and ensured the safety of those who were so vulnerable. I am tremendously proud of this team of staff and will always remember their bravery and actions, as will the family and loved ones of those residents from Parkerville.”
 
Nomination 2
On 20/1/22 when the fire went through Parkerville, in a limited amount of time, the carer’s showed great integrity in evacuating all ten clients quickly and efficiently. All clients were placed into the carer’s own cars, as all three vans were on fire, and driven to Helen’s Place. This included all wheelchair bound clients. 

I was working at HP that afternoon and envisaged seeing ten very distressed clients. However, I was extremely pleased to see all clients relatively calm and unphased. This was a credit to the carers!
I hadn’t met any of these carers before that day, and to see the respect they showed their clients and the rapport they had with them, was an absolute honour.  

That afternoon, I’ve never been so proud to work with such amazing people and for our amazing RISE.