National Association of Social Workers

NASW Responds to Katrina's Impact

More than $70,000 has been collected for the assistance fund.

By Lyn Stoesen, News Staff

A Red Cross volunteer comforts an evacuee in the Houston Astrodome on Sept. 2. Social workers were among those who volunteered with the Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. AP Wide World Photos/FEMA

As the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina continue to be felt, NASW and social workers around the country have responded quickly and powerfully to offer the profession's expertise and commitment to those affected.

In the days and weeks that followed, social workers rallied to respond to the aftermath of Katrina and the storm that followed in her wake, Hurricane Rita.

"This is one of the worst disasters in our nation's history," said NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark. "The skills that social workers can offer are needed now as never before. I'm proud of the overwhelming response from social workers across this country who have offered their expertise and their compassion in all arenas during this crisis."

The NASW Foundation has received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to a newly established fund to financially assist social workers directly affected by Katrina, and NASW chapters in the Gulf Coast have pulled together to help their members and bring in volunteers.

NASW responds. The association's response to Katrina began in the days immediately following the storm's landfall, with Web site updates on where social workers were needed and lists of organizations members could work through to volunteer and offer their expertise.

Also in the week following Katrina, the association established the Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund. All money contributed to the fund goes directly to help social workers affected by the hurricane and its aftermath. As the News went to press, more than $70,000 had been distributed to more than 300 social workers, in grants of up to $500.

The grants are available to any social worker directly affected by the hurricanes, whether or not they are NASW members.

In a letter announcing the fund, Clark pointed out that the aftermath of Katrina is different from other disasters because "the infrastructure and social services safety net were also destroyed."

"It is estimated that at least 1,000 social workers in the affected regions no longer have jobs or offices or private practices or agencies," she wrote. "Many of them have no homes or possessions, and some of them have lost loved ones. They, too, are victims.

"In order to rebuild the social services needed for these devastated areas, we first have to help the social workers get back on their feet," the letter stated.

NASW Director of Development Robert Carter Arnold explained that the NASW Foundation established the fund due to the extraordinary circumstances of Hurricane Katrina. "We are not chartered to be a direct-service organization, but we felt the magnitude of this situation and the vastness of devastation required us to take this step," he said.

The association has also moved to ensure that members in the affected states will not have problems with their insurance or credentials. Member dues may be extended up to six months as needed, and the $10 fee to replace lost credential certificates has been waived. Further, the NASW Insurance Trust is ensuring that members' professional liability coverage will be maintained even if members cannot renew in a timely fashion. Additionally, MBNA America, which issues a credit card held by many NASW members, will extend payment periods and will waive late fees for customers in the affected areas. MBNA can be contacted directly at (800) 421-2110 for more information.

NASW has also posted information on its Web site about licensure standards for disaster volunteers from out of state, liability issues for federal volunteers and client confidentiality during disaster relief.

The association has in place a partnership with the American Red Cross to maintain a database of trained disaster mental health professionals, the Disaster Services Human Resources System. Immediately after Katrina, the Red Cross sent out a call for volunteers, which NASW posted on its Web site and sent to chapters.

NASW has also worked with the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to fill 100 mental health professional positions to work in the affected areas. More than 400 applications were submitted within a week.

On Sept. 16, NASW President Elvira Craig de Silva wrote a letter to President Bush expressing the association's commitment to addressing the needs of everyone affected by Katrina.

"As social workers, it is our priority to look at the needs of the most vulnerable — in this case, marginalized ethnic and racial groups, the disabled, the elderly and the very poor," the letter stated. "Their needs were clearly not met in the aftermath of the storm.

"It will not be sufficient to rebuild roads and buildings. It will not be sufficient to provide funds for shelters and first-aid and then scale back services in six months. Rebuilding the social services infrastructure is essential to the overall hurricane recovery effort," Craig de Silva wrote.

"Although appalled by the unnecessary human suffering in the last several weeks, NASW and the half million social work professionals it represents are completely committed to helping restore dignity to the people and communities affected by this tragedy."

NASW has created a team to continue to look at ways to respond to hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to use lessons learned from these disasters to help the profession be better prepared in the future.

"We are pulling people together to help us become more proactive," Clark said. "We want to find ways we can mobilize in advance of disasters."

Residents search for clothes in a Gulfport, Miss., donation area. AP Wide World Photos

Chapters take action. Carmen Weisner, executive director of NASW's Louisiana Chapter, kept a written log of her experiences in the days immediately following Katrina. She chronicled her work to coordinate services, make contact with chapter members and help evacuees.

Writing on Saturday, Sept. 3, five days after the storm, Weisner recorded, "My greatest success today was connecting a woman with congestive heart failure with her daughter (who herself was staying with friends as her home was flooded). I was lucky and located a nursing facility close to her daughter, who was going to travel the next day to the facility to see her mother. That telephone reunion I will cherish for my entire life!"

Weisner told the News that the chapter's challenges continue.

"We have our ups and our downs," she said. "We have a long road ahead. I [have been getting] calls from some of our displaced social workers, calling in from all over the country. A lot of them aren't coming back, and that's devastating. Our service delivery system, which was challenged before, will be further challenged, and that's a huge concern. But they don't have homes to come back to — their homes are gone."

Weisner said that a meeting she had with local agency leaders in late September provided her with a great feeling of relief. "I was looking at people who I have spent my entire career working with. It was wonderful just to see them."

In Mississippi, chapter Executive Director Janice Sandefur moved the office to Pearl, Miss. The chapter began compiling a list of members from the southern part of the state, working to ensure that all members were accounted for.

The Texas Chapter also faced great challenges. Houston served as a major center for evacuees following Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Rita, which followed so soon after, also had an impact on the state. The chapter's Web site has been kept well-updated on volunteer needs and resources.

"Most of our activity has been around responding to Katrina," said Texas Chapter Executive Director Vicki Hansen. "We were fortunate to have in place standard operating guidelines which emerged from our work with the governor's bioterrorism task force after 9/11.

"Pretty much from the time we found out Texas was accepting evacuees — about a quarter million — we were able to jump right in and implement [the guidelines]," she said.

In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, the Texas Chapter updated its Web site several times a day with information on where and what assistance was needed. The chapter also sent e-mail to board members and set up a database of social workers who could house volunteers from other states.

The chapter has also worked to help social workers displaced by the hurricanes. "Texas has many geographic challenges — vast rural areas that need social workers. We got several calls from those folks who are interested in assisting licensed social workers in relocating and giving them a job."

Hansen said the situation helped drive home the effectiveness of the social work approach. "At the Austin convention center, with thousands of evacuees, there was a big sign with 'mental health' over it and counselors. But there were no clients. Social workers would walk in and just start walking the floor, sitting down and chatting. There is a tremendous need for people to be able to tell their stories, and their needs would emerge so the social worker could hook them up [with resources].

"Here in Texas, what is now emerging is a coordinated effort to look at the mid-term and long-term implications" of the hurricanes, Hansen said. "[Evacuees] have had time to emerge from the numbness and immediate trauma and have begun to deal on a deeper level. We need to determine what's in place for mental health, jobs and schools."

She also noted that many evacuees were dealing with difficulties before the hurricane, which remain. "The folks who were in trouble when they lived in New Orleans are still in trouble — people with substance abuse issues, disabilities, those kinds of things. It's much more complex than taking a well-functioning family and saying, 'Here's an apartment.'"

Hansen said she believes the aftermath of the hurricanes will give social workers an opportunity to advance the position of the profession in disaster situations. "We can highlight our contribution to this effort and, hopefully, more clearly embed ourselves along with doctors and nurses as first responders," she said.

Alabama was spared much of the damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but did have an influx of evacuees following the storms. Marilyn Cepeda, chair of the Alabama Chapter's Mobile unit, said she believes about dozen shelters were still operating in the state at the News deadline.

Cepeda also said that many social service providers were affected. For most of the past two decades, she lived and worked in the areas directly affected by the storms. "Many of my friends and former coworkers have had significant damage, if not lost everything," she said.

Clark said NASW's response to the hurricanes will continue. "We are staying in contact with our chapters to ensure that they have the resources we can offer, and we will continue to operate the Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund.

"I am moved by the generosity of our members," Clark said. "I know that the national office, our chapters and all our members will continue to pull together to respond to this extraordinary event."

Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund donors (PDF)

For more information about volunteering and contributing to the Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund: www.socialworkers.org

For information about disaster response and grief issues: www.helpstartshere.org

From November 2005 NASW News. © 2005 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved. NASW News articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.