Clean-Up Continues After Indio Medical Office Fire
INDIO – Nurse Debbie Wells picks through the rubble of Indio’s JFK Arthritis Institute.Sixty patients come here each day. After a Saturday morning fire, the halls are empty and dark, filled with the charred remains of more than 10 years of hard work.
Dr. Jonathan Braslow says, “It really hasn’t even hit home. It’s like a nightmare. I woke up this morning and I wondered, did this really happen?”
It really did happen, and with enough speed to take out several medical offices in the building on Dr. Carreon Boulevard.
Office manager Sue Shinn adds, “When you walk into an area right after a fire and see the devastation and how fast it can go up, it is so frightening.”
Fire marshals are still investigating, but doctors say they’ve been told it likely started as an electrical short on the first floor.
Most medical offices here say their patient records were saved. In some cases, it came very close.
With destroyed medical equipment, the final cost will far exceed the official $220,000 damage estimate.
The JFK Arthritis Institute was in the process of moving to a new La Quinta location when this fire happened.
Wells explains, “We were actually slated to move in a couple of months. We were in the process. This just made us move a little faster. We did save our fish. We had a 500 gallon fish tank. We saved all the fish.”
If you’re one of the hundreds of regular patients here at the JFK Arthritis Institute, they can be reached at 760-777-8282 or at their new location 47647 Caleo Bay Drive, La Quinta.
