“It’s wonderful to be home! I can’t believe that I have my own bathroom again. I didn’t like sharing one with someone else while we were away,” said Teresa (not her real name).

Teresa was talking about her return to Cache Valley assisted living apartment. She and the other residents were forced to leave a few months ago when debris caused a makeshift dam to be formed which allowed torrential rains to back up and flood the surrounding area. The Cache Valley apartment building and twenty-two homes in the area were flooded.

When the Cache Valley apartments flooded, the residents needed to evacuate. It wasn’t “Katrina-like” in size or nature, but the flood of Cache Valley apartments was just as devastating to its residents. This was their home--for some of them it’s been home for ten years since the facility opened a decade ago.

The residents of Cache Valley had a tight bond. The stress of the flood and moving caused a few of them to be permanently admitted into nursing homes. Some went to live with family members. There were about ten, like Teresa, that couldn’t move in with family, didn’t want to be in a nursing home, but had nowhere else to go while waiting for Cache Valley to dry out and be refurbished after the flood.

The ten people who had nowhere to go to live wanted to stay together. Since most assisted living facilities like Cache Valley had few if any vacancies, it was impossible to find a place that was just as nice, and affordable for these displaced residents.

Since they wanted to stay together as a family, these ten voted to occupy a vacant wing of a nursing home until they could move back to Cache Valley. There, they had to share rooms and bathrooms, unlike at Cache Valley where each resident has their own individual apartment and bathroom.

The nursing management was very nice and understanding, but it wasn’t home for the former residents of Cache Valley. They just wanted to go back to Cache Valley, their home.

The ten residents temporarily living in the nursing home moved back to Cache Valley recently. The grand return was a happy day for these displaced souls. “We just don’t appreciate what we have until we lose it,” continued Teresa. “I’m just so happy to be back. It’s my home, and these are my friends.”

It’s another lesson learned. Regardless of where or how you live, home is where you want to live-with your friends and family nearby.

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