MY DEPLOYMENT TO NYC WITH ARC

2.11.2013. By Mary Ann Ohsol
REFLECTIONS: THE SANDY DISASTER
(my experience as a Red Cross volunteer)

Thawing out in Austin, TX, while visiting my daughter, Lisa, after 8 weeks of deployment in the NYC Sandy disaster with Red Cross, I still see New York in my waking hours and in my dreams. The 12’ water surge took out people’s homes and destroyed much of the infrastructure in the New York-New Jersey area. Wall Street is still running on generators the size of my bathroom as I write, 102 days after the storm. We never had a storm this large. It was 800 miles wide! The tunnels & subways in New York City were flooded, there were no utilities, and people were stranded up 38 or more floors!

My first 3 weeks volunteering involved mass care sheltering. I began as a kitchen manager at my shelter (school) in Glen Cove on Long Island, but in less than 24 hours the city closed this shelter as we were still on generator and had only snacks & bottled water. Our Red Cross staff of seven people and the shelter clients were bussed to Manhasset, another school. We were there three days before the city closed it and we were bussed to Nassau Community College gymnasium. It was in this shelter that I spent the next three weeks volunteering.

We had 900 residents in our shelter, and across the courtyard we had a special needs shelter housing over 200 elderly clients. We also had a separate pet shelter on campus that housed 200 pets. After twelve hour shifts, we (Red Cross Staff) drove an hour to sleep in the SUNY Old Westbury gymnasium. When I got home, I told my husband, “I slept with 300 people every night!” I got so used to sleeping on cots that I couldn’t sleep in my good bed! It hurt my back!

After the storm, many elderly were trapped in their high senior apartments with no elevator (no electricity), no water, & no way of getting down the many flights of stairs. Red Cross carried hot meals and water up forty or more flights of stairs. Boy scouts carried gallons of water so people could flush their toilets. Sick people had to be manually carried down the many flights of stairs.

Imagine for a moment, one day your life is normal. You choose what to wear, eat your breakfast, get in your car and drive to work. You get home that night, eat dinner and go to bed. You heard a storm was coming, but you had weathered several in the past, and thought this was much to do about nothing. You make the mistake of not evacuating.
In the middle of the night you are awakened by a loud banging. It’s the National Guard. You hear, “Come on. We have to leave now!” You look around and see that the water has risen over your car, is quickly reaching the top of your refrigerator!

You leave immediately with the Guard, and are taken to a shelter, assigned a cot, and given a blanket, a bottle of water, and a comfort kit with personal needs such as toothbrush, towel, shampoo. The lights are dim as the shelter is running on a generator. Cell phones don’t work because the towers were destroyed in the storm. You hear a ham radio operator communicating in the background. This is the story of those who made it. Many didn’t.

When cell phones start working a week later, you call your work to explain that you lost your car, the roads are destroyed and it’s impossible to get to your job. You call work and find out you have been fired. Basically you have nothing but the clothes on your back and a mortgage. Thousands of people were in this exact situation.

Best Buy loaned our shelter computers and 3 wide screened televisions as well as phones and cell phone chargers. The computers were helpful to staff and residents in moving forward. Red Cross has a “Safe and Well” website to help family members connect to shelter residents.

The wide screen televisions were installed minutes before the presidential election results were announced. When President Obama won, the shelter went crazy. Even the bedridden elderly got up and danced in the isles!

Through in-kind donations we were able to give most clients a change of clothes. DAT (Disaster Action Teams) brought in volunteer medical teams from California to help in the shelter. They set up and were able to supply about 75% of the prescriptions needed as most people didn’t bring their medications. We asked for and received in-kind donations of reading glasses as most people didn’t think to grab their glasses in the middle of the night.

Our shelter had a variety of residents ranging from grumpy old men to happy little children. The kids were great! They were just joyous and had fun meeting new friends and playing. To them it was a great adventure. The Save the Children volunteers came daily and did activities with them. For the elderly, living in a shelter was very difficult and overall, their health declined daily.

There was illness and we quarantined the sick in classrooms. Flu, nor virus, hepatitis, and whooping cough were the most common illnesses. Some shelters had bed bugs, but we were blessed and did not.

The first week we had no hot food. We lived on snacks consisting of granola bars, pears, and bottled water. Nine days after the storm our first hot food was brought in by young Muslims who came to help from all over the country. They set up a certified kitchen in the city, cooked, delivered and served us hot yellow lentil soup and tomato pasta. That was the best food I ever tasted!! The Salvation Army brought hot food the next day, then the Red Cross and Baptist kitchens were set up & functioning and the Red Cross ERV’s (Emergency Response Vehicles) started delivering hot food to shelters and neighborhoods. Every ERV in the 48 states came to the Sandy disaster.

Some of my favorite shelter residents were elderly people that were with me from the first day at Glen Cove through our two moves to the Nassau Community Shelter. One humble, kind, elderly gentleman from India especially stays in my mind and my heart. His legs bowed out like the letter O and he walked slowly with a simple walking stick. Saran said to me, “Every soul is the same. God loves everyone the same.” I told him, “Saran, you are my guru.” He always replied, “No, you are my guru. You are helping people.”

Another elderly client, Renee, had been a World War II bomber pilot. He told wonderful, exciting flying stories. His friend told me Renee was a war hero, but Renee was humble and never would say that about himself. This friend had an artificial leg from the knee down and he would do funny things with it to make us laugh. On the bus when we were being moved from Glen Cove to Manhasset, he put the leg straight up with the foot pointing backwards. We all laughed uncontrollably on that bus in the middle of the cold dark night.

Andre was an overweight Hispanic man that helped me learn more Spanish, a language I had been working on. He was diabetic and I took him and other diabetic residents special diabetic snacks when they came into the shelter. I was in charge of handing out special needs cots and I gave Andre one as he was to heavy for a normal cot and fell through one.

Another client that will always hold a special place in my heart is Adam, a twelve year old boy who cared for his mother and grandmother. This young boy who stuttered had a huge load on his shoulders. His mother was in a wheelchair and couldn’t breathe very well and his grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease. Because of the storm, they were homeless. After Adam had his mom and grandma tucked in their cots and asleep, he would go around to the elderly and help them in any way he could. We made him an honorary Red Cross volunteer and gave him a Red Cross vest. He wore it proudly.

After 3 weeks of shelter experience, being home a week was a nice and well-needed rest. Then Red Cross deployed me again, this time to Manhattan to do client casework. Sleeping in a hotel was heaven. I had good roommates and drawers to put my clothes in. Waking at 6am each day and jumping into my silk long johns and warm clothes, I was off to the subway for an hour to an hour and a half ride to the various DRC’s (Disaster Resource Centers) in the Queens and Brooklyn boroughs.

Red Cross, and our partners, FEMA, SBA, HUD, NY City Restoration and insurance people were in these centers to help people with their needs. I gave the clients resources for finding clothes, shelters, hot food, bulk food, medical, mental health, glasses, and other needs, and directed them to other agencies as necessary. I gave out literature, blankets, masks, hand cleaner, and gloves to deal with the abundant mold, and I gave teddy bears, coloring books & crayons to the children. Often I just gave a very needed listening ear and a hug and I shared tears and laughter with my clients.

Sometimes I gave out ChapStick and other small items I was able to pick up from bulk trucks or Headquarters. Red Cross had bulk delivery trucks that gave out cleaning supplies, blankets, canned and boxed food, and for the first time in Red Cross history, bulk dog and cat food. They went to the affected neighborhoods and the DRC’s.

The folks that remain most strongly in my mind are the elderly Jewish Russian people on Coney Island and Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. They only spoke Russian and had been in their neighborhood for well over 50 years. Their homes were destroyed or unlivable yet they were too frightened to leave their neighborhood. Red Cross, HUD, and sometimes FEMA could relocate them in apartments or hotels in other areas of the city, but they refused to go. They chose to remain homeless and stay in familiar surroundings. Some stayed with friends, which gets old, and others just slept outside and ate when hot food was delivered to the neighborhood. I experienced sadness, helplessness and frustration. I loved these people, and I learned a lot from them. They even taught me a little of their Russian language!



On my long subway rides I studied ham radio material. One night after work, I took a bus to Bergenfield, NJ. After about five weeks of studies, I took and passed the Tech Class Ham Radio Test and now have my license so I can help in disasters, especially in my region where there are only two people with licenses.

On a lighter note, I will mention that I had a day off somewhere between every 7 to 11 days of work. One of these days off I was given a free ticket to the Dave Letterman Show and his guest was Mic Jagger! That was a real treat!
Regarding Superstorm Sandy, the United States has never had a disaster of this magnitude; the storm was 800 miles wide! Red Cross is still working very hard to help people get back to a sustainable way of living and developing new systems and procedures that can be used in the future.

I am proud to be a part of the American Red Cross and to be a volunteer in the disaster relief and recovery process. I have come home to a new normal. These experienced have changed my life. My Red Cross brothers and sisters and the clients I worked with have all become part of me. I have many new friendships and great memories to cherish forever, and my life has been enriched. For this I am grateful.

I pray for the Sandy victims and send them love, light and healing energy. I hope that you will do the same. It’s not over. I am looking forward to returning and working in client casework in February, helping people get back to a new normal way of life. We have gone a long way in recovery, but still have a long way to go.

Red Cross always needs volunteers. You can join by contacting your local chapter. There are opportunities in volunteer service for everyone whether it be blood donation, office, local fires, shelters, fundraising, driving food vans or bulk distribution trucks, logistics, or client casework. Also, Red Cross offers many free classes on line and in classrooms once you are signed up for volunteering.

Donations can be made at www.redcross.org and u can also find volunteer information there. You may also call 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).