WELLS - When 23 hospice patients from Beaumont needed a safe haven from Hurricane Ike's wrath, many inland nursing homes politely declined and said, "No, we can't take them."

However, a little nursing home in Wells said, "Yes, we can," and the staff prepared to make the final days of terminally ill patients as comfortable as possible.

When the hurricane knocked out power in Cherokee County, there were 18 different breaks in power lines between Hillside Plaza Rehabilitation Services and the nearest source.

The prospect of a prolonged outage seemed likely.

When Ken Hannah, Cherokee County emergency management coordinator, found out about the hospice patients, he made it a priority to help Hillside Plaza get power back quickly.

As linemen repaired the downed lines one break at a time, Mr. Hannah provided the nursing home with updates. And he leaned on his superiors in Austin to help, too.

Within just 24 hours, all 18 breaks were repaired. But time was not on their side. Eight of the 23 patients died during the first 48 hours, despite the work and assistance of Hillside Plaza's staff and the city of Wells.

The average length of time for someone to live after entering a hospice facility is only 10 days.

"When you're in the people business, it's easy to get attached - even fairly quickly," Alan Peterson, head administrator said about his staff.

A few of the patients came with family members, bringing the total number of evacuees taken in by Hillside Plaza to 29.

"There were downed lines throughout the entire area," said Jeamy Molina, a spokesperson with ONCOR. "We had to reset the poles and repair them that way. It was a big task for our crew, but they (Hillside Plaza) are a critical care customer, so we did everything we could to get them restored."

The loss of the eight patients took a toll on everyone at Hillside Plaza, but also touched other residents of Wells.

"It even affected me a bit," Chief Barry Starnes said. "I know any time they (Hillside Plaza) lose a patient, it puts a lot of strain on them, even if they knew there was a possibility that was going to happen. I think it really put a lot of strain on everyone to know that they came with 29 people (overall) and left with only 21."

Mr. Peterson credited his vendors for helping Hillside Plaza continue to function through the rough conditions.

"We had extra linens overnighted to us. Our food and milk suppliers came in with extra, as well. We had no problem getting supplies at any point in time.

"As a long-term care operator, we can't live without our supplies. Our vendors really stepped up and helped out when we needed it most."

Mr. Peterson said that despite the sadness, Hillside Plaza continued to serve and help not only its residents, but the evacuees as well.

"Everyone here really stepped up to the plate," he said. "The staff was just incredible. You learn a lot about people's character in times of crisis and I can't say enough about all of my staff. They really came through and did whatever it took to take care of people.

"They've really made a difference in a lot of people's lives."

The death certificates of the eight who died will list a small town that they may have never heard of or visited.

But in a matter of hours, they touched many lives who tried to make their last hours more comfortable.

And it was a storm of events that will not soon be forgotten.