Senior evacuees find shelter.

Sixty-three nursing-home residents who were evacuated from two centers in Santa Barbara were taken Friday to temporary quarters at Lompoc Valley Medical Center and two local nursing homes.

Jim Raggio, executive director of Medical Center, arranged housing for the long-term care residents until Senior Living Concepts and Val Verde Retirement Community in Santa Barbara can take them back.

Ten of the seniors stayed in rooms at the hospital, 11 resided at the hospital’s Convalescent Care Center and 42 stayed at Lompoc Skilled and Rehab Center, Raggio said.

Three Lompoc doctors — Rollin Bailey, Christopher Ryan and Christopher Lumsdaine — attended to the seniors’ needs, he said.

The seniors were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and its Goleta branch Thursday night after they were forced to evacuate, but the hospital needed overflow space, said a Cottage spokeswoman. The Lompoc Medical Center offered to take them and they were transported by bus Friday, Raggio said.

The impact of the Jesusita Fire reached the Solvang Lutheran Home at 3 a.m. Friday when six elderly evacuees arrived from the South Coast.

“Four came in on a school bus, and two were by non-emergency ambulance transport. We are prepared to take in more evacuees if needed, as we have independent living apartments available,” Registered Nurse Denise Clear said.

Continue reading at the Lompoc Record.