 |
| Brian Burk with Program Leader Paul Linden |
The first thing you would do is rush to get
you and your family out of the house.
That task however is easier said than done
when your home is an Individual Residential Alternative (IRA) with six guys
with varying degrees of developmental disabilities, including two in
wheelchairs.
This scenario played out on Jan. 27 when an
alarm was activated at the Kendrew IRA. Brian Burk and his housemates, along
with two staff members had to evacuate their home, in some instances leaving in
just their pajamas.
Luckily it was a false alarm triggered by a
rush of heat from the home making its way onto the porch when the home’s back
door was opened. However, this was not immediately apparent, and not determined
for nearly 20 minutes as Mr. Burk, United Helpers Behavioral Health and Life
Skills staff, and the home’s other residents waited for the fire department to
respond and give them clearance to go back inside.
Making matters worse, the temperature was -20
degrees.
As the home emptied varying degrees of
irritation could be detected among those residing there, and that’s where Mr.
Burk sprang into action.
“Brian has a huge heart and is always very
helpful to everyone in the house,” said Kendrew IRA Program Leader Paul Linden.
“That night was no different.”
Mr. Linden explained that as the home was
evacuated program members were loaded into a van located a safe distance from
the house.
“Brian gave one of the guys his coat and used
his own cell phone to provide a hot spot so another could play on his tablet
while they waited to go back inside,” Mr. Linden said.
Those two simple gestures helped ease tensions
and provide a much needed sense of calm, both for his housemates and for staff
attempting to manage the situation.
For his actions on that night, Mr. Burk was
recently presented with a gift card and a certificate at a surprise meeting
held at the Behavioral Health and Life Skills complex in Ogdensburg.
As the clock ticked towards 2:30 p.m. and
people began to file into the room, one could tell that Mr. Burk was curious about
what was going on.
“I guess now I can tell you this is for you,”
Mr. Linden told him, eliciting a surprised reaction.
“I never expected so much attention for doing
what I did on that day,” Mr. Burk said. “If it happened again, I would do the
same things all over again.”
 |
