The Diocese of Little Rock has hired five case managers for the Hurricane Recovery Office thanks to a $428,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The trained professionals will assist volunteer parish teams with the work of resettling thousands of evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who are living in Arkansas. Case managers will be stationed in Mountain Home, Springdale, Hot Springs and Monticello. A fifth person will work in Little Rock and cover Pulaski, Faulkner and Lonoke countries.
Sister Joan Pytlik, DC, Hurricane Recovery Office director, said the FEMA grant will allow the diocese to employ the case managers through Oct. 8, 2007. The grant came through a $65 million contract with the United Methodist Committee on Relief and was earmarked solely for case managers. Catholic Charities USA received a portion on that money to distribute to 27 dioceses in 13 states that are working with evacuees.
Following Hurricane Katrina Aug. 29, Catholic Charities of Arkansas opened a hurricane office to serve the estimated 60,000 residents from Louisiana and Mississippi who moved to the state. Through grants and donations from parishioners, the office has assisted more than 5,000 people with obtaining basic needs like clothing, food, utilities and medicine, replacing identification and helping them find housing and jobs.
With its limited budget, the office was only able to hire a director, case management coordinator and secretary. Volunteer teams from 42 parishes in 23 counties did the casework and distributed the funds as needed to the evacuees.
Sister Joan said having regional case managers would lighten the load for Jamie Deere, case management coordinator.
“It will definitely help her a lot,” Sister Joan said. “A lot of the difficult cases came to her.”
Because the new case managers will live and work in the region they are serving, parish teams will have an additional person to contact for advice and guidance. Sister Joan said case managers have been asked to help recruit more parishes to form teams. Also, more team members are needed all over the state to continue the case work. At least 30,000 evacuees are living in Arkansas today and many are still trying to transition into permanent housing.
“We want to find new people to train,” Sister Joan said. “We will be holding more trainings.”
Sister Joan said “compassion fatigue” could be affecting team members, causing them to drop off.
“People are worn down by the needs (of the evacuees),” she said. “They can use some help and some new energy.”
Sister Joan admitted members of her office have had episodes of “compassion fatigue” and try to recognize when they are getting tired and take a break. She said she has noticed for herself that she needs to be aware of her stress level “when you find yourself irritable at demanding clients.”
“People are demanding now because they are anxious, especially now with the transition in housing,” she said.
Because the case managers have training in social work, disasters and case management, they can assist the teams when they are struggling.
The mental health of the team members and evacuees is a particular concern for the Hurricane Recovery Office.
“Six months after a disaster there is a spike in mental health needs,” Sister Joan said. “People begin to realize the depth of their loss.”
She said there are opportunities for individual counseling and support groups.
When employees from Catholic Charities USA came to Little Rock in March to train the case managers, they applauded the work already done by the parish teams.
“They were amazed,” Sister Joan said. “It said it was done so well, all by volunteers.”
The regional case managers are currently setting up their offices and several do not have telephone numbers yet, Sister Joan said.
They are:
Central: Linda Sherman, St. John Center, Little Rock, (501) 664-0340, ext 420 (lsherman@dolr.org)
Northwest: Melanie Sletten, 2022 W. Sunset Ave., Springdale, (479) 927-0809 (msletten@dolr.org)
Southwest: Stanley D. Barnes, 1125 Malvern Ave, Hot Springs, (sbarnes@dolr.org)
Southeast: Mary Bailey, 304 N. Main St. Suite 3, Monticello (mbailey@dolr.org)
Northeast: Brigid D. Ryan, 1058 Highland Circle #20, Mountain Home, (bryan@dolr.org)
The case managers said they are ready to get to work with the teams and evacuees. One of their main goals is to ensure the evacuees are making a “long-term plan” for their lives.
“We are going to try to get them on the right track,” Hot Springs case manager Stanley Barnes said, “so it won’t have such a monumental effect on them” (when government assistance ends).
Monticello case manager Mary Bailey said she was happy to see the job opening and applied immediately. She said the job combines skills from many of her previous jobs in casework.
“It was a sense of calling for me,” she said of her new job.
Regional zones for Hurricane Recovery Office
The Hurricane Recovery Office has divided the state into five regions to better assist evacuees. Regional case managers have been assigned to each region to work with the volunteer parish teams.
The diocese trained 42 teams in 23 counties to assist the evacuees with resettlement and family reunification. It is hoped that more teams will be formed in areas where there are evacuees but no teams.
Central
Little Rock (7 teams)
North Little Rock (5)
Marche
Conway
Carlisle
Northeast
Heber Springs
Blytheville
Jonesboro
Batesville
Northwest
Fort Smith (3)
Fayetteville (2)
Siloam Springs
Eureka Springs
Berryville
Springdale
Southeast
Lake Village
Pine Bluff (2)
West Memphis
McGehee
Crossett
Forrest City
Star City
Monticello
Southwest
Camden
Hot Springs (2)
Magnolia
Hope
