Red Cross does not help disabled in South Florida
While in South Florida Spinal Cord Resources had issues with the Red Cross refusing to transfer people in wheelchairs to commodes and to make westcot beds available during emergencies. According to the Department of Justice, anyone who is working for the county during an emergency must follow federal law and this means the ADA. The Red Cross is expected to help in the transfer of people from wheelchairs to either beds or to commodes. There is even a document with pictures from the Department of Justice that explains exactly what is required in emergency shelters. The Red Cross has repeatedly said that they will not provide transfer assistance in shelters even though the federal government has demanded it. Proper beds for the disabled are critical to their health and survival. Improper beds create bedsores that can easily move on to damaged muscles and finally bones. If these problems are not resolved immediately, hospitalization will be required and depending on the damage, the disabled person may be forced to live in a nursing home until they are healed. This is completely avoidable by the use of a westcot bed. The Red Cross has repeatedly said that they will not provide westcot beds to the disabled, creating potential hospitalizations. Additional issues in South Florida have been uncovered by Marc Dubin Esq., a disability lawyer working for the Center for Independent Living of South Florida. Please see what the disabled are up against:
The American Red Cross is soliciting donations for help in Georgia. Feel free to help, but I have some questions I wish they would answer about their services to evacuees with disabilities:
Do evacuees in wheelchairs who seek shelter in Red Cross shelters in Georgia have accessible beds available to them, as required by the ADA?
In Miami-Dade County, they don’t. They plan to get some, and plan to borrow some, but right now, 19 years after the passage of the ADA, they don’t have any.
Do evacuees who are deaf or hard of hearing who use sign language have access to qualified interpreters in shelters, in the event of a medical emergency, as required by the ADA?
In Miami-Dade County, they don’t.
Miami-Dade County only offers “volunteer” interpreters, who lack knowledge of how to interpret the necessary medical terminology that would be required in such a situation. The Red Cross tells us: “We are a volunteer organization, so we use volunteers.” 19 years after the passage of the ADA, and the collection of millions of dollars in donations, they are still exploring ways to comply with the ADA.
Do evacuees who have mental illnesses, autism, or cognitive disabilities have a quiet area in the shelter, as a reasonable modification of policy?
In Miami-Dade, they don’t.
Under the ADA, the Red Cross and the County with whom they partner are both liable for the civil rights violations that occur in emergency management.
In its solicitation for donations, the Red Cross says that “Officials estimate more than 1,500 people may be seeking shelter.” Some of those evacuees are people with disabilities. What is the Red Cross doing to serve them? Where are the accessible beds? Where are the qualified sign language interpreters? How much of the money donated to the Red Cross, instead of to disability organizations serving evacuees with disabilities, actually go to serving evacuees with disabilities?
Are Counties that partner with the Red Cross aware that under the ADA they can be held liable for the failure to serve people with disabilities in general needs shelters operated by the Red Cross? Are they aware that under the Rehabilitation Act, they risk a cutoff of federal funding for violations of the ADA by the Red Cross?
Let’s never forget what happened to evacuees with disabilities in New Orleans with disabilities. As related in testimony before Congress by Marcie Roth:
On the morning of August 29th, I received a call that I will never forget and once I tell you about it, I hope you will never forget it either. My friend and colleague, former appointee to the Social Security Administration, Susan Daniels called me to enlist my help because her sister-in-law, a quadriplegic woman in New Orleans had been unsuccessfully trying to evacuate to the Superdome since Saturday. In my naiveté I thought a few phone calls to the “right” people would help, and I was sure I knew who to call. After many calls to the “right” people, it was clear that this woman, Benilda Caixetta, was NOT being evacuated. I stayed on the phone with Benilda for most of the day, assuring her that I was doing all I could to make sure help would be coming as soon as possible. She kept telling me she had been calling for a ride to the Superdome since Saturday, but, despite promises, no one came. The very same paratransit system that people with disabilities can’t rely on in good weather was what was being relied on in the evacuation. It’s no surprise that didn’t work.
I was on the phone with her that afternoon when she told me, with panic in her voice, “the water is rushing in” and then her phone went dead.
We learned five days later that she had been found in her apartment, dead, floating next to her wheelchair. http://www.spinalcord.org/news.php?dep=1&page=0&list=643
Marcie described the Red Cross’ efforts as follows:
“As well as the disability community came together to try to take care of “our own”, we have been excluded from the larger relief community and told that we would just be “in the way” and “make things worse”. I received report after report about the Red Cross shelters turning people with disabilities away or separating them from caregivers and service animals, then sending them to nursing homes when they couldn’t maintain their independence. When I inquired about the sheltering needs of people with disabilities, one Red Cross operations official told me “we aren’t supposed to help those people, the local health departments do that. We can’t hardly deal with the “intact” people. Don’t you understand that we’re taking volunteers off the street to run these shelters?”” http://www.spinalcord.org/news.php?dep=1&page=0&list=643
When the disability community, and their allies, are asked to donate to the Red Cross, don’t donors deserve some assurances that the donations will help evacuees with disabilities? Shouldn’t some of the donations be dedicated to purchases helping evacuees with disabilities? Shouldn’t some of the money go to purchasing the services of qualified sign language interpreters, video remote interpreting (VRI), accessible beds, and other services needed by evacuees with disabilities?
Can’t the Red Cross do a better job of planning on behalf of evacuees with disabilities? Can’t the Red Cross do a better job of serving evacuees with disabilities? Shouldn’t the counties that partner with them and the donors who support them demand that the Red Cross prioritize serving people with disabilities?
As for me, I will donate to the Red Cross when the Red Cross shows its commitment to the disability community.
Marc
See http://www.spinalcord.org/news.php?dep=1&page=0&list=643 for Marcie Roth’s testimony before Congress. Also See Transcript of Hill Briefing on Disaster Response (11.10.05) (Word Document)
See Transcript of Hill Briefing on Disaster Response (11.10.05) (PDF Document)
Marcie Roth was subsequently appointed by President Obama to serve as FEMA’s Senior Advisor on Disability Issues.
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Hello. My comment to the Red Cross involves sign language interpreters. Before Katrina I contacted the Red Cross asking to be on their approved list of interpreters should a disaster occur. I contacted them often since then and no answer. I gave up. Until your article today.
Still upset tho I almost let it go unsaid,
Coleen Hogan,CI/CT,Master License Illinois