Photo By Staff Sgt. Thomas Calvert | A FEMA's Disaster Survivor Assistance team meets with building managers of a senior...... read more read more
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The list went on; diesel for generators, food and water for residents, and personal property damage.
FEMA’s Disaster Survivor Assistance teams are continuously reaching out to several senior living facilities across Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
As the team was parting from this particular meeting, team lead Caroline Cuddy asked the building administrator if she could bring anyone downstairs who needed to use the Red Cross Safe and Sound Program, which helps survivors of disasters find their families after tragedy.
“It’s me,” the building administrator said.
The woman hadn’t been able to find her family because she’d been working every day to care for her senior tenants since Hurricane Irma, Cuddy said.
“To see that dedication and commitment she had to the residents of her home, so much so that she was putting them before her own family, was really humbling,” Cuddy said.
The senior living facilities were listed as priority to protect the most vulnerable of the island’s citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The top priority of the Department of Defense, working together to support FEMA and local authorities in Puerto Rico, is providing life-saving and life-sustaining support to those in the affected areas.
“The goal is to have boots on the ground,” said Daniel Llargues, an external affairs officer with FEMA. “We do it every disaster we go to, we make sure that we bring FEMA to the survivors.”
The teams work in the field registering disaster survivors and organizations to pinpoint where resources like food, water, fuel, and generators can be best distributed. They are a key part of FEMA’s mission to have the right capabilities at the right place at the right time to support the needs of affected citizens.
“These Disaster Assistance Survivor Teams have the capability using iPads and other devices to register people for disasters on the spot,” Llargues said.
DSATs are best utilized in Puerto Rico by working with local community leaders on a personal level and listening to the needs of the population, said Cuddy.
“Because communications are down, it’s really important that they know that they’re on our radar, we know that they’re out there, we know they have needs and we’re committed to getting those needs met,” said Cuddy. “We’re skilled to ask those questions of things they might not think that they need.”
The senior living centers that FEMA designated as priority are funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but are privately operated and staffed by locals on the island who have been working tirelessly since Maria made landfall.
“We’re also ending every visit with an important message to the workers: ‘How are YOU doing? What needs do YOU have?’” said Cuddy. “We recognize that without these employees, these communities wouldn’t be able to continue running.”
While the senior living centers are a priority, the DSATs will be hard at work to make sure every citizen of Puerto Rico has their needs met in the weeks of recovery to come.
“It’s not just affecting one population, it’s affecting everyone on the island,” Cuddy said. ”We can’t forget that everyone is in need. We need to be empathetic, and we need to listen.”
| Date Taken: | 10.03.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.03.2017 21:26 |
| Story ID: | 250493 |
| Location: | SAN JUAN, PR |
| Web Views: | 419 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Help Where It's Needed: FEMA teams help Puerto Rico senior centers thrive, by SSG Thomas Calvert, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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