Caring Through Crisis: The Night of the VA Nursing Home Evacuations

Also known as the VA Nursing Homes, some live in the CLCs permanently, while others are there while recovering from illnesses or injury. One Veteran has called the West LA CLC home for 17 years.  

For each of these Veterans, the CLC is a safe place where they receive round-the-clock care, comfort, and support. 

On Jan. 10, 2025, that all changed as the Palisades Fire threatened the West LA VA campus. To ensure the safety of these vulnerable Veterans, leadership made the decision to evacuate them.

It was a daunting task. Most of these Veterans are elderly, many are in wheelchairs, some are nonverbal, and others have conditions that made movement painful or difficult.

In a remarkable show of support, nearly 100 staff and volunteers answered the late-night call for help and descended on the CLCs. Each person stepped up to do whatever it took to care for these Veterans, putting aside job titles and roles to meet whatever each Veteran needed in the moment.  

Through a painstaking overnight process, together they successfully – and safely – relocated every single Veteran. 

In the words of Dr. Michael Simmons, Associate Director, Patient Care Services for VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS), who was there throughout the night: “People have the ability and the capacity to care for others far beyond themselves. The resilience of our team and their spirit … it makes you very proud.”

Making Tough Decisions

Simmons was part of VA’s Incident Command leadership group that assisted in making the decision about temporarily relocating the Veterans.  

“You could see the fire from the campus,” he said. “At one point we were standing outside and there was gray debris coming down. It almost looked like snow … but it was ash. That’s when I knew something was wrong.”

As soon as the evacuations were ordered, an immediate call for help went out to all staff late Friday night. The response was remarkable, said Simmons. 

“So many people showed up to help. It was amazing to see.”

All Hands on Deck

RN Charge Nurse Raymond Tayag, who works overnight shifts, was on duty at the CLC when the evacuations were ordered. He immediately sprang into action to prepare the Veterans and keep them calm. 

“At that moment, I was thinking of not only the Veterans, but everyone’s safety,” he said. “I had to keep my composure because if the Veterans saw me panicking, they might panic as well.”

He calmly explained the situation to the Veteran residents and helped ease their minds about what was about to happen.  

Nurse Manager Lily Tseng worked very closely with Tayag that evening and spoke glowingly of how he handled the chaos. “I was in awe of how calm and organized he was,” she said. 

Meanwhile, leadership was working with VA Long Beach and VA Loma Linda to temporarily transfer most of the Veterans to those locations. The team was also arranging transportation, made more challenging by the fact that 100 of the Veterans required either a wheelchair or a gurney. 

Some of the Veterans were also moved to Bldg. 500 (the main hospital) on the West LA VA campus. 

It was an extraordinarily complex evacuation, said Simmons, with many logistical challenges. And it had never been done before. “There were some things you just couldn’t anticipate,” he said. 

Leave No Veteran Behind

Tseng and Supervisory Program Specialist Kendra Ovadya were both at home with their families when the call for support went out. Immediately, they got in their cars to drive to campus.

“Driving in, seeing the red glow behind the medical center put it into perspective how close it was, and how much it had shifted since just earlier that day,” said Ovadya. Though not a clinician, Ovadya came prepared to do whatever was needed. 

Because the Veterans each had unique needs including medications, dietary requirements, mobility issues and more, staff had to make an individualized plan for every one of them. 

They had to figure out where each Veteran could go, how they could be transported, and communicate their medical records and requirements to the other VA locations; no small feat for over 100 residents. 

The process was lengthy, but staff painstakingly ensured each Veteran had everything they needed. 

“While the Veterans were waiting in the lobby for pick up, we offered them snacks, warm blankets and reassurance that they will be taken care of and nobody will be left behind,” Tayag said. Staff even helped Veterans retrieve some of their most precious belongings to take with them. 

‘We All Knew the Mission’

Despite the stressful nature of the situation and the many challenges that arose, staff never faltered in their care for Veterans. 

“Everyone was there to help. Whatever that looked like, you did it without question or complaint,” said Ovadya. “It was great to see.”

From leadership to dietary staff to nurses, people from all parts of VA came to work that night. Simmons spent hours driving back and forth between the CLCs and Bldg. 500 to support staff and the Veterans being moved. 

“We had non-clinical people who didn’t work in the CLC who showed up ready to work and willing to help,” said Tseng. Even leaders who couldn’t physically make it on site were lending assistance over the phone.

At one point in the night, Simmons encountered a doctor of nuclear medicine who came to help and ended up making beds. 

“We all knew the mission within minutes of getting there,” said Tseng. “We immediately split up, found what we were good at, found pockets where help was needed, and did what we had to do.” 

The whole process started around 11 p.m. and went on until approximately 6 a.m. the following morning, with many staff members working more than 10 hours through the night.  

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Though this was the first-ever evacuation of the CLCs, with no real guidebook for staff to follow, all Veterans made it safely to their destinations – and back once the fire risk had passed. Tseng, Ovadya, and Tayag all agreed that it was a remarkable show of teamwork that made it all possible.

Tseng, who has been with VAGLAHS for eight months, said she saw the power of the VA mission that night. 

“It was sobering,” she said. “Everybody that came in was there to carry out the mission. I never heard a single negative comment from all the volunteers and people we were working with that night. What I saw was really incredible.”

Simmons also credited “invaluable” partnerships that helped to get the Veterans to safety, including VA Long Beach, VA Loma Linda, and the transportation partners, who stepped up to find solutions no matter how challenging the need.

For those who were a part of that momentous night, a frequent insight is that everyone was there because they truly care. For people who work at VAGLAHS, caring for Veterans is much more than a job – it’s a mission. 

“Everybody showed up because we are a community, and we care about what happens here,” said Ovadya. “This is their home, and we are entrusted with their care.”