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When Valley Springs Manor, an assisted living home for the elderly, was shut down, all the staff left, except for Maurice Rowland, the cook, and Miguel Alvarez, the janitor. "There was about 16 residents left behind," says Rowland. "If we left, they wouldn't have nobody," adds Alvarez. Rowland and Alvarez worked 24 hour days to care for the residents who needed round-the-clock care, going home for one hour at a time to take a shower, until city law enforcement officials took over several days later. "Even though they wasn't our family, they were kind of like our family for this short period of time."

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