United Spinal Hurricane Relief Effort

United Spinal Association is joining the nationwide hurricane relief effort. We are strongly committed to providing quality of life assistance to all individuals with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) affected by Hurricane Katrina. If you are an individual with SCI/D living in the affected area of Louisiana, Alabama, or Mississippi, and are in need of relief or require emotional or psychosocial support, please contact us toll free at 888-211-3635.

Family Survives Katrina, Young Son Given Chance at Mobility Again by United Spinal

On the morning of Monday, August 29th Hurricane Katrina made its initial landfall in Louisiana. Sean Artigues Sr., his wife, their 11-year old son Sean Artigues Jr., who was born with cerebral palsy, and Artigues Sr.’s brother, who recently underwent back surgery, were in their New Orleans home bracing for the 145 mph winds of the Category 4 hurricane.

Sean Artigues Sr. kneels between his son Sean Jr. and a new wheelchair provided by United Spinal, one of many such chairs the Association has donated to survivors of Katrina in the New Orleans area.

In addition to his near miraculous survival, Artigues Jr. became one of the first victims of Hurricane Katrina to benefit from United Spinal Association’s mission of goodwill to people with disabilities in the weather-beaten Gulf Coast region.

Speaking for his son, who has difficulty speaking and suffers from seizures, Artigues Sr. said that, in the beginning, things were rather uneventful. But at approximately 7:30 a.m., water began filling up the Artigues home and reaching up to his son’s bed. At that point, his wife began to scream and he knew they had to make a run for the nearest two-story home for safety. “All I could think about was getting everyone out of the house. I was able to finally push my way into Sean Jr.’s room and lift him off of his bed.”

Artigues Sr. along with his wife and brother began making their way through rising waters, debris, and floating vehicles to a house just across the street. All the while Artigues Sr. holding his young son over his head as the waters began to reach his chin.

“It was a miracle I tell you!” exclaimed Artigues Sr. “I just couldn’t swim anymore. A car floating by came to us. We sat on top of it and a gust of wind actually took us over to a piece of land that we could set our feet on. I was able to get my son and wife across the street where the door of that house crashed in, literally sucking them in to safety. Then I had to turn back for my brother who was still recovering from back surgery.” Artigues Sr. said that when he turned around he witnessed another miracle. He credits a wooden sofa for rescuing his brother and “lifting him up, making him look like he was 12-feet tall.”

Once the family reached the two-story home they made their way to the rooftop where they were evacuated by helicopter to Chalmette High School, but not before the foundation in the house, and all the houses in the area, including their own home, soon began to disappear in the deepening water.

Artigues Sr. said that the hordes of people who had been gathering in Chalmette High School were bigger than he could have ever imagined. Senior citizens were slipping and falling all over the place, and a young woman in her third trimester of pregnancy went into labor. She was taken to St. Bernard Paris prison where she had her baby. Later, when Sean Jr. had a seizure because his medication was lost in the Hurricane, the Artigues family was MedEvaced to a rehabilitation hospital.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Artigues Sr. said that his son remained composed. “Sean is a very calm-natured boy. He never cried. For him, it may have all been an adventure.”

But Artigues Sr. knew the horrific truth: This was not a simple adventure. His brother had been separated from him and taken to a hospital in Missouri, his family had no where to go, and his son lost his wheelchair. Yet his voice still burst with optimism. “God has been good to us. United Spinal Association has been a blessing for us. We were simply overjoyed that Sean was being given back his mobility.”

United Spinal dispatched a wheelchair accessible bus and a box truck filled to capacity with supplies and equipment to Louisiana and all of the 30 wheelchairs, special cushions, canes, walkers, and accessories including the bus itself are being donated to the New Orleans Resources for Independent Living (RIL) Center, currently stationed at a makeshift location in Baton Rouge. In addition, United Spinal sent support staff, including a wheelchair expert to ensure recipients were properly fitted for their equipment.

“I feel great seeing all these people helping out,” said Artigues Sr. His son, who was using a loaner wheelchair from a local hospital, had his wheelchair replaced by Ziggi Landsman, United Spinal’s Director of Assistive Technology.

“Sean Sr. was one of the first people we saw when we [on the United Spinal bus] got to the RIL,” said Landsman. “He was one of the first people to come right out and help us unload. We thought he was one of the centers employees, he was right there without even being asked. I mean this is a guy who has lost his home and is caring for his son who has CP, but his attitude was tremendous. This is a man that really made a great impression on me.”

Artigues Sr. is still trying to get in contact with a disaster relief agency for financial assistance, but for now he and his family have been staying at the rehabilitation hospital. He understands and expects the long wait and, with his remarkable optimism, Artigues Sr. insists that things could have been worse.

“We are all alive and, for now, we have been made to feel welcome where we are staying. To see so many people coming to our aid is a blessing. United Spinal donating all this equipment to help people get mobilized again, really gives me a sense that people out there understand the different struggles that we are dealing with right now. I have no more words to express my appreciation for what United Spinal has brought to us.”

Hope Remains

50-year old Ron Champagne thanks God for sparing his home from any damage. Having suffered a neck injury in a 1975 diving accident in Florida, Champagne understands the importance of remaining calm and relaxed through a difficult time. “I was nervous, but I had to learn how to relax. I continuously watched the storm and tracked where it was going.” Champagne went on to say that he considers himself “one of the lucky ones” as his mother, sister and brother all survived the storms. Champagne says he remains optimistic and is extremely grateful for United Spinal Association’s support and assistance with getting his wheelchair repaired and usable again.

Ziggi Landsman discusses wheelchair needs with Ron Champagne, C4-5 quadriplegic in powered wheelchair at Resources for Independent Living. Baton Rouge. He is with Renee Wheat who is by Champagne’s side full time at a Rehabilitation Hospital.

Quadriplegic Teacher Among First to Benefit From United Spinal’s Katrina Mission

A 31-year-old quadriplegic high school teacher from East New Orleans was among the first victims of Hurricane Katrina to benefit from United Spinal Association’s mission of mercy to people with disabilities in the battered Gulf Coast region.

Wheelchair technician Hubert Fairweather (left) adjusts a new chair, one of 30 donated by United Spinal to survivors of Hurricane Katrina, for Vernon Harris of East New Orleans.

Describing his ordeal, Vernon Harris, a C-6-7 incomplete quadriplegic, said he was saved from the rising water by his cousin who drives a school bus. “He took us, the family, friends, and neighbors out of there in his yellow school bus. There was no other help coming from anyone. Took us seven hours to get to Baton Rouge. The traffic was jammed the whole way.” He said the first few days after the storm were extremely precarious. “You don’t live day by day, or hour by hour. You live second by second. You have no idea what’s going to happen.”

Harris, who was injured in a car accident 15 years ago, said that his home in East New Orleans was built on what is essentially swampland and, between the ferocious winds and rain from Katrina and a burst levee very near his neighborhood, the house was sinking and is currently under about 60 feet of water.

“My uncle is a Harbor Police Officer and even he can’t get to the house. He said it’ll be about a year and a half before we’ll even be able to see the house and between four and five years before we’ll be able to move back in, if ever. I think that house is gone.”

In a voice echoing his sense of disbelief, Harris said, “Then realty hits you: I’m homeless. I’m truly homeless. And worse, I’m homeless in a wheelchair.”

One thing that Harris will not have to worry about, however, is mobility. United Spinal dispatched a wheelchair accessible bus and a box truck filled to capacity with supplies and equipment to Louisiana and all of the wheelchairs, special seats, canes, walkers, and accessories—including the bus itself—are being donated to the New Orleans Resources for Independent Living (RIL) Center. The Center is currently being run out of Baton Rouge and to ensure recipients are properly fitted for their equipment, United Spinal also sent support staff, including a wheelchair expert.

Harris’ chair was serviced by United Spinal’s Director of Assistive Technology, Ziggi Landsman. Harris said he needed new tires and hand grips and that the United Spinal team also provided him with a second, back up, chair. “I’m so grateful for everything [United Spinal] is doing,” he said.

Harris said that when their school bus finally reached the outskirts of Baton Rouge, they stayed a week at a shelter at West Feliciana High School in St. Francisville. “But then school started and everyone had to leave. I was with my mother and brother and sister and we got separated from my mom. We didn’t know what happened to her, we were worried.”

They found another shelter in the town of Gonzaga. “I never saw anything like it in my life. There were about 2,000 people in there. They tell you to find a spot on the floor and lie down. That’s it. Just lie down. I couldn’t handle being on the floor it so I slept on the bus.” Within a few days he was reunited with his mother. “You know, God works in mysterious ways. This guy shows up at the shelter and we get talking and I find out my mother is at a hotel just a few blocks away.”

Harris was able to secure a one-time allocation of $149 in food stamps after standing in line with approximately 3,000 people, but “that’s gone now,” he said. His cell phone provider, T-Mobile, has extended free minutes for victims of the storm and the Federal Emergency Management Administration is helping with the cost of the hotel he’s staying at temporarily, but other than that there has been no financial assistance offered.

“People who went to other states got welcomed with open arms, they all got assistance. Everywhere except here; we got nothing here in our own state. People are getting real frustrated.”

But United Spinal’s wheelchair mission has been one of the few bright spots in Harris’ turbulent month. “I got to keep maintaining, keep going on. But you people are a big help. A big help.”

United Spinal Donates Bus Filled With Adaptive Gear To Katrina Survivors

Executive Director Gerard M. Kelly and Deputy Executive Director Paul J. Tobin (front left and right), wished a happy voyage to (back row, left to right) Hubert Fairweather, Ziggi Landsman and Ray Grim before they set off for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a bus full of wheelchairs and other equipment destined for consumers of the New Orleans Resources for Independent Living Center.

Fort Totten, Bayside, NY-September 20, 2005-United Spinal Association, a national disability rights organization, has joined the nationwide relief effort for victims of Hurricane Katrina. This morning the Association deployed a wheelchair accessible bus and box truck to Louisiana, filled to capacity with supplies and equipment which will be donated to a New Orleans Resources for Independent Living (RIL) Center. Among the donations are 30 new manual wheelchairs, two power wheelchairs, two hospital beds, a Hoyer lift, 30 new wheelchair cushions, and a number of canes, crutches, and walkers. To ensure recipients are properly fitted for their equipment, United Spinal will be sending support staff, including a wheelchair technician and specialist. United Spinal will also donate the 33-foot bus that is being used to transport the equipment. The total value of the donation is estimated to be $50,000.

“The people who are going to be receiving these donations truly need it,” said Yovanka Archaga, C.P.A., Executive Director of RIL, one of the largest personal care attendant service providers for individuals with disabilities in the southern region of Louisiana. RIL benefits include care services, supported living programs, and transportation services. “Our consumers have lost so much, and we are going to take these gifts to give it right back to the community. Hospitals are overloaded and it’s amazing how much we have taken for granted, consumer’s medical needs are just another luxury that has been taken away as well.”

Not wanting to sound ungrateful that the lives of her staff and consumers have been spared, Archaga is forging forward with her efforts to rebuild the Center, despite the fact that the community is at a standstill. With her voice shaking, Archaga describes what she feels was a miracle—that after being under two to three feet of water, and with three and a half feet of mold on the walls, all of RIL’s 25 to 30 computers, and their $10,000 server, functioned normally after being drained. “It was just amazing that they still had power,” she says. “That just tells me that God is saying that Yovanka has to keep going…that tells you we are doing something good.”

“We have all seen the images of this unprecedented catastrophe and the suffering that has been endured by the people in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” said Gerard Kelly, Executive Director of United Spinal Association. “United Spinal Association has great concern for our members and non-members that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. Knowing firsthand the daily challenges faced by the disability community under normal conditions, we can only speculate as to the added difficulties imposed by these extraordinary circumstances.”

Through the cooperation of John Lancaster, Executive Director, Council on Independent Living, United Spinal connected with the New Orleans Independent Living Center currently operating out of Baton Rouge. Kelly remarked, “We are ecstatic to have been able to put together the various items we are donating, as well as to donate a lift-equipped bus; we know they will all be put to good use by people in dire need of them. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to serve the people in New Orleans and other places who are presently facing such enormous challenges.”

The United Spinal Association is dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals with spinal cord injury or disease by assuring quality health care, promoting research, advocating for civil rights and independence, educating the public about these issues and enlisting its help to achieve these fundamental goals. Membership is free and open to all people with spinal cord disabilities.

Contact Jennifer M. Rodriguez, 718-803-3782 ext. 282
For more information, visit www.unitedspinal.org

United Spinal Association Kicks-Off its Fundraising Efforts for Hurricane Relief at Las Vegas Conference

United Spinal Association, while in conference in Las Vegas, joined the nationwide relief effort to assist individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina. Medical professionals from around the US and Canada have raised almost $3,000 in donations during United Spinal Association’s Annual Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Conference and Expo, September 6-8, 2005 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino.

Funding will be used to provide supplies, such as wheelchairs and other mobility devices for people with disabilities in the affected area.

This fundraising effort was spearheaded by conference attendee and American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Nurses (AASCIN) member Billie Massie. Massie, whose West Salem, Ohio home was destroyed in a tornado in 2002, said she initially began collecting donations at the conference because she could relate to being a victim of a natural disaster and in need of assistance. “I remember the outpouring of support from strangers and how much it meant to me. I wanted to do the same for those affected by Hurricane Katrina,” Massie said.

Karen Holien, charge nurse at Healthsouth Rehab Hospital of Las Vegas and AASCIN member, was just one of many local members that contributed to the relief effort. “With over 1,400 conference attendees from several different professional associations, we are very lucky to have an opportunity to collectively assist with United Spinal’s hurricane relief fund,” Holien said.

Paul Tobin, Deputy Executive Director of United Spinal Association said, “Aside from losing all of their possessions in this disaster, many people with disabilities in the affected area have also been robbed of basic mobility.”

Learn more about United Spinal Association.

About SCI Annual Conference

The Annual SCI Conference is the largest gathering of spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) professionals in the country and provides a forum for three professional associations- American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Nurses (AASCIN), American Paraplegia Society (APS), and American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers(AASCIPSW)- to hold member-specific conferences concurrently for professional information exchange and continuing education.

About United Spinal Association

The conference is sponsored by United Spinal Association, a national organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of all individuals with spinal cord injury or disease by ensuring quality health care, promoting research, advocating for civil rights and independence, educating the public about these issues, and enlisting its help to achieve these fundamental goals.

For more information contact United Spinal Association Public Affairs