In any emergency situation, the adrenaline kicks in and we prepare to fight or flight.

This is no different if you are in a wheelchair, but unfortunately you are not able to do either.

One of the most important aspects of the statutory and mandatory training at Leuchie House involves fire safety. This is, of course, vital in any organisation, but at Leuchie, the logistics of making sure people with complex care conditions and very limited mobility are safely out of the building in an emergency are challenging to say the least.

Leuchie guests need more assurance that the staff are well equipped to deal with such an emergency, as they are literally putting their lives in our hands. We have extensive training in evacuation for all staff, but it is difficult to know how any of us would react in an actual emergency.

This was put to the test recently when an unscheduled fire alarm sounded during an ordinary morning. Thankfully, the training kicked in and everyone began taking on their allocated roles, with the nurse who was in charge immediately making all the guests and staff feel they were in the hands of someone calm, collected and on top of the situation.

The evacuation of the guests, many of whom were in the shower or still in bed, was textbook perfect and staff calmly fulfilled their duties with the guests before leaving the building, by this time supervised by the speedy firefighters from East Linton and North Berwick (thank you all).

It turned out to have been a false alarm, with the alarm triggered by dust from workmen on Leuchie’s roof, but the experience left us all with a greater respect for the rigorous fire safety training regime.

Our facilities manager was instrumental in identifying the source of the alarm and liaising with the fire service and it was a useful exercise in seeing all the safety procedures she has put in place come into effect. The nurse in charge coped with a level-headed approach, which spread to staff and guests.

Personally, I could not have been more proud of the staff and the way they conducted themselves. Everyone played their roles to perfection and we were soon able to reassure guests that it had been a false alarm and allow them to carry on with their breaks in the knowledge that, should the worst happen, they were in safe hands.