Street roots., November 03, 2017, Page 10, Image 10

Street Roots • Nov. 3-9, 2017
Rolling up
our sleeves
for Puerto
Rico
Disaster relief isn’t
what labor unions
are known for, but
hundreds answered
the call in the wake
o f Hurricane Maria
Commentary
Page 11
caretakers, joined the carpenters in
We split into teams of nurses, nurse
replacing the roof.
practitioners, and drivers, and headed out
Even with the long hours and nights
for door-to-door canvassing, where the
spent on cots in an old stadium locker room,
nurses sought out those who needed
leaving the island was hard knowing that
medical attention, treated those folks, and
there was so much to be done. Still, I didn’t
manned pop-up clinics and health education
return home with a downtrodden spirit. I
hubs.
left Puerto Rico overwhelmed by inspiration
The need was immense. Families
from the communities, their kindness, and
struggled with dehydration, and with their
their strength together.
doctors and health care providers in the
During my time there, I realized that
same boat as them, had no access to
there’s an idea that folks have, that I had,
medical treatment or follow-up treatment
which is that success is all but guaranteed
from recent surgeries.
as long as we’re armed with an 18-point
We quickly exhausted medical materials,
plan; that we’ll be able to do more and do
while local supplies were also depleted. Out
better than we would by just jumping into
of necessity we improvised. One nurse
action. But nearly a
practitioner
month and a half after
performed a minor
What seemed like chaos and
Hurricane Maria hit, so
surgery using a buck
many of us on the
knife sterilized by a
poor planning during the
mainland are waiting
lighter. Similar
firs t day nr tw© was aetnally
for Trump to make
examples of
a demonstration ©I low? the
disaster relief a top
desperation and
demand
for
dignity?
and
the
priority and begin to
inspiration were
eome4©gether«and-do«what-
form that 18-point-plan.
everywhere.
needs4o-be»d©ne approach
What seemed like
We did our best to
chaos and poor
bring medical care
that defines the labor
planning during the
and neccessities like
atonements
water filtration to
. first day or two was
communities on the
actually a
demonstration of love,
island, and the
the demand for dignity,
memories of unity
and the come-together-and-do-what-needs-to-
formed from necessity will always stay with
me. One remarkable experience was the
be-done approach that defines the labor
opportunity to assist one of our union
movement.
Disaster relief isn’t what labor unions do;
brothers and his family.
He is a nurse whose elderly parents took
it’s not what the AFL-CIO sets out to do
care of an orphanage. In the earliest hours
every day, month and year. But working
of the morning, he took a van into the hills
alongside hundreds of folks from all
and drove, stopping to supply aid to those
different locals, nationals and international
who were in desperate need, until he found
union affiliates, each of whom volunteered
the orphanage. The roof had been ripped
to get on that plane with me with every bit
from the main building where the kitchen
as short of notice as I had, reminded me
and living quarters were located. There was
that what we do is what is needed, and we
nowhere to prepare food and there was
do it together. On a day-to-day basis, union
folks don’t usually have to step outside of
black mold everywhere.
The rest of the team - eight health care
their specialty and skill set, but our
professionals and two Teamsters - joined
coordinated efforts reached out to
him to the orphanage and we went to work
thousands of people, providing critical
providing care to the children living in the
services and learning what it takes to take
facility. Some of the nurses treated locals’
care of each other without the help of the
medical needs while others listened with
U.S. administration or an 18-point-plan.
care and taught the residents skills they
M isty Richards is a registered nurse
would need to stay healthy. The nurse from
living in Oregon City
my team, the son of the wonderful
BY M ISTY RICHARDS
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
W
Fhen we landed in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, we landed in chaos.
Nobody could have predicted the
devastation that Hurricane Maria would
bring to Puerto Rico. Streets had flooded
and homes and businesses had their roofs
ripped off of their walls. Families slept in
bedding covered in toxic black mold.
Fifty-one hurricane-related deaths have
been reported, though the lack of basic
infrastructure, clean water and nutritious
foods threatens the lives of the Americans
on the island. With almost no power or
communication infrastructure, no food on
the shelves in grocery stores, and no
medical care, it was an infuriating and
heartbreaking scene, having myself just
come from comfort and safety.
I was notified that there was a need for
volunteers on a Friday, and on Tuesday, Oct.
3, we were landing in a disaster zone.
The national union federation, the AFL-
CIO, pulled together 100 drivers, 100
carpenters, and a 100 nurses to spend two
weeks as disaster relief volunteers. AFL-
CIO leadership brokered a deal with United
Airlines that if they could gather 300
volunteers from the unions, United Airlines
would supply staff and an airplane to get us
there.
In awe of Donald Trump’s blatant neglect
for American lives, my union brothers and
sisters from the Teamsters and Carpenters
Union joined together with the Federation
of Nurses and Health Professionals, jumped
into action. Myself and five other nurses
and health professionals from Oregon
accompanied the delegation.
ÉÈÉSMM
RN Response Network V
Puerto Rico »
Hurricane Marla Disaster Relier
National
Nurses
United
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Where NNU/RNRN Volunteers Brought Aid
P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F TH E O R E G O N F E T A T I O N Op E NURSES A N D
Above, nurses in Puerto Rico assess their supplies and the
work to be done in the aftermath o f Hurricane M ana. A t
right, a map showing the areas where the R N Response
NNU/RNRN Provided
Care & Disaster Relief »»
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