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Home  News & Information County Joins Other Non-profits to Assist in Ike Recovery
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County Joins Other Non-profits to Assist in Ike Recovery |
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In the wake of Hurricane Ike, area social services are working together to repair the damage done to facilities and services. Despite the lack of telephone lines, damaged facilities and significant personal losses, the area social service agencies have rallied and are working well together. Galveston County Social Services is one of those agencies on the frontline actively helping people whose work and private lives have been interrupted by this storm.
“Facilities are our priority, getting the services everyone needs back on line,” said County Judge Jim Yarbrough. “But where some facilities cannot come online fast enough we are aggressively retasking employees, like those from the Shearn Moody Plaza, to assist people in recovery.”
On Galveston Island, Catholic Charities, St.Vincent's Episcopal House, The Salvation Army, The Jesse Tree, Our Daily Bread, The Community Action Council, The AIDS Coalition of Coastal Texas, Gulf Coast MHMR and several other organizations sustained significant damage to their facilities and fragmentation of their staffing due to the evacuation.
Galveston County joined a number of other providers in meetings convened by the United Way of Galveston. “One goal of these meetings is to get our services going again, while trying not to duplicate each other. Another goal is forming collaborations that will allow us to respond to the scale of this disaster,” said Curtiss Brown, director of Community Services.
“The Galveston County Social Services Department, run by manager Joe Metyko, has had workers deployed since Monday after the storm, but like everyone else, finding suitable quarters and reaching those in need has been complicated.”
The group formed a case-management sub-committee to develop a method of getting resources and connecting people to the services they need. The Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, The Jesse Tree, NAMI, The Children's Center and others are now able to offer services in one room. On Oct. 13, the group moved from 4700 Broadway to Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 31st Street and Avenue N. An additional case-management office was opened to provide a greater degree of privacy and confidentiality. In addition, The Jesse Tree was approved to open a temporary pantry at this site allowing all providers to make referrals for food.
“Before the storm, we had made significant progress increasing enrollment in federally and state funded medical and social services programs,” said Precinct 3 County Commissioner Stephen Holmes. “The Galveston County Commissioners’ Court partnered with The Jesse Tree, Galveston County Health District, UTMB's Office of Community Outreach, Mainland Medical Center and others to overcome obstacles to providing services. We were in the third quarter of our contract when Ike hit.”
What others may think of as simple things stand in the way of providing these services. Things such as transportation, language translation, telephone service and completing complicated forms make service delivery very difficult. Now, after the storm, these problems are multiplied as many people have lost their already limited access to telephones and transportation.
The Jesse Tree helps citizens enroll in Medicare, Medicaid, Qualified Medicare Beneficiary, Food Stamps, Head Start and WIC, all of which make significant contributions to the local economy. After the hurricane, many more people will be eligible for these and many other programs.
County workers are on the frontline helping these agencies make sure that as many people as possible can be served. The agencies are cooperating by taking a creative approach to making sure that resources are used prudently to assist the most applicants.
Another example is the prescription assistance program. By partnering with the health district, the county, UTMB and The Jesse Tree, more people can be served for fewer dollars. “Joe Compian and Kyaw Lim of The Jesse Tree have developed a ‘Best-Cost-Formulary’ that identifies all of the four-dollar options at leading pharmacies and a spectrum of free and reduced-cost options for those needing medications,” Brown said.
Galveston County Commissioner Pat Doyle is encouraging a San Leon location for service delivery. “Our social service caseworkers will assist other agencies in the area to help those in need,” Doyle said. “We are gaining experience in Galveston and we will use that experience on the Bayshore and eventually on Bolivar Peninsula.”
Information is available online to those who wish to help or wish to join with the agencies now working. A complete list of agencies and access information can be found at help4galveston.org. Donations can be made or arranged at the site.
For information on available services, please call (409) 762-2233.
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