Help for a helper

Friends, family rally around hospice nurse after Moses Lake fire

MOSES LAKE - Mikki Kin Kade collects angels.

In some places around her house, scorched outlines mark where some of them lined the walls.

A resident of Moses Lake for three-and-a-half years, Kin Kade was visiting a patient for her work as a nurse at Central Basin Home Health and Hospice on Jan. 17 behind her Moses Lake home.

As she was talking to him, he kept pointing toward her house.

"I looked and there was black smoke all over," Kin Kade remembered.

She went running, and arrived just as a neighbor was calling 911. Her daughter, Heidi Kin Kade, was at work.

"The wonderful firemen and EMTs were here very fast," Mikki said. "I wasn't very bright. I ran and opened the door because we had seven parrots and four cats, and they all perished."

The fire was attributed to an electrical cause.

Mikki and Heidi stayed at a neighbor's house and a friend and an employer stayed with them while they watched the fire.

"It just feels like you're robbed, at least that's how I felt," Mikki said. "I felt very invaded."

"I told Mom, I didn't care if I lost everything I owned in that house, I just want my animals back," Heidi said. "It's very hard for me."

They had owned most of the birds between six and nine years, and most of the cats for five to six years, except a 1-year-old kitten.

"Make sure you always tell people you love them, and never abuse your pets, because mine were so good to me," a visibly emotional Heidi said.

A Grant County Fire District 5 firefighter, she said, took the animals to Pioneer Veterinary Clinic, where staff cleaned the animals for her to view. She extends her gratitude to the firefighter and clinic staff.

Mikki and Heidi spent several days in Ritzville with family. In addition to Heidi and a daughter in Ritzville, Mikki has a son in Lind and in Tonasket.

"They just all rallied immediately," she said.

The Red Cross found them a place to live, paying a month's rent and providing vouchers for food, linens and clothing.

"Our clothes are all smoke-damaged," Mikki said. "We had to throw a lot of them away."

The landlord is fixing up a place for temporary housing right around the corner for the Kin Kades, with the option to move back in once the apartment is restored. Mikki expects to do so.

"We love our apartment," she said. "If we find something in the meantime that looks better, we might consider it, but (the landlord) has just been wonderful."

Mikki's co-workers are spearheading efforts to help the Kin Kades. Immediate needs include prayer, gas cards for work transportation and gift cards for groceries and clothing. Cash donations can be made to a special account at Washington Mutual Bank made out to Mikki Kin Kade.

Notes of encouragement can be sent care of Columbia Basin Home Health and Hospice at 311 W. Third Ave., in Moses Lake.

Central Basin Home Health and Hospice CEO Beth Laszlo called Mikki a loving and caring person.

"She just goes in with a very warm heart and open arms, and provides skilled care to patients and families when they're going through a difficult time," Laszlo said.

Efforts to help the Kin Kades are typical of the hospice work force, Laszlo said.

"We want to participate in any way we can, because we're kind of like extended family here to each other," she said. "We are a small agency here, small when you look at the area we serve. We have a total of about 25 employees and really we just care for each other. We want to support each other, and that means through good and bad."

"They call and give me support and stop by," Mikki said. "Even my patients I'm taking care of sent prayers, which is wonderful. I love my hospice job."

It's a career Mikki's held for almost seven years, after work at several hospitals.

"I enjoy helping the families and being with the patients, because it's such an honor for me and privilege that they've included me in their last journey," she said.

Remodeling and reviving the apartment takes several months, Mikki expected. She plans to continue at her job. She returns to work Monday.

Heidi's working to finish her forensics degree and get back to work in a coroner's office.

"It's hard to see the death part, but I guess I get it from Mom, working with the family, helping them through their hard time," Heidi said. "I guess it's in my blood. All of us are fire, medical, law enforcement, every single one of us in my family."

Mikki said she's surprised by the support coming from her neighbors. One even alerted the police earlier this week when someone tried to break into the damaged home.

"When this happened, they all just came out of the woodwork and started doing things," Mikki said. "It was remarkable. That's just wonderful, that people do that."

Mikki and Heidi stressed the importance of renters' insurance, which they did not have.

"It's unbelievable at first and then when it sinks in, it just is devastating," Mikki said. "But it could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse. We'll make it."