9-23-08
AOTA Offers Support to Victims of Hurricane Ike
From AOTA President Penelope Moyers Cleveland
Dear Colleagues:
Once again, the residents along the Gulf Coast have been hit hard during this severe hurricane season. To those who have suffered the devastation of Hurricane Ike, especially in the Galveston area, please know that the AOTA community stands with you in our thoughts and in our desire to help you recover. Natural disasters such as this may be out of our hands as they happen, but helping you put your lives back together in their aftermath is not.
AOTA Contacts Texas OT Programs
AOTA staff immediately contacted Texas occupational therapy school programs to ask if assistance was needed. Dr. Catherine Candler, the interim OT program director at Texas Women’s University in Houston, said that the university was intact and had power, and that no assistance was needed. “However,” Dr. Candler said, “faculty are scattered about the city and learning to live under more primitive conditions. We are learning the lessons of life without electricity and feeling our vulnerabilities.” TWU reopened September 22.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was hardest hit by Ike, and remains closed. Most students and faculty had been evacuated before the storm hit, but the widespread power outages, and storm-related damage to housing and roads continue to hamper recovery efforts in the Galveston area. Officials estimated that normal operations at UTMB would resume in 4-6 weeks.
UTMB faculty members are hard at work implementing an emergency contingency plan that involves initially teaching online classes and then finding a temporary location to house face-to-face instruction. The program meets the needs of the region and many of the students are first members in their families to attend college. They have limited resources when it comes to the prospect of having to travel to attend classes. AOTA is in contact with school officials about helping to address these needs, and we are awaiting further word on specific ways in which we can help.
Further reports can be found on the University’s Recovery Information page.
If you would like to help, a UTMB Hurricane Relief Fund has been established.