Page 153 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

122 Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilence

An example of the diversity of cases coming to NYDIS and the 9/11 Roundtable
in 2006 to 2008 included Mohawk Indian iron workers from Canada who had
traveled to New York City immediately after 9/11 to work on clearing debris
from the site. With help from the Canadian Red Cross, these Mohawk Indians
were regularly traveling to New York City for treatment of World Trade Center
illnesses at Mt. Sinai Hospital. The average worker in this case had limited
education, perhaps high school, and had a career in ironwork that had paid
$70,000 a year. On the reservation, this is good money. But recovery for these
workers often meant permanent disability and few alternatives for income. In
at least one case, a worker had glass in his lungs and had developed cancer.
While physicians were still deciding if the emergence of cancer in recovery
workers was “disaster caused,” NYDIS worked with the Canadian Red Cross
to develop a recovery plan for the family that included job development for the
recovery worker’s wife.

Not only did developing recovery plans for these clients become a com-
plicated task, but the lack of case work agencies still active in 9/11 recov-
ery created yet another crisis in sustaining the tool of financial assistance
through the 9/11 Roundtable. By December 2005, the American Red Cross
September 11 Recovery Grants had moved from funding case manage-
ment to funding a limited number of agencies with direct service pro-
grams other than case management. To resolve the conflict of meeting the
needs of the emerging 9/11 recovery worker population, the American Red
Cross decided to partner with NYDIS, funding not only the administra-
tion of the 9/11 Roundtable, but also distributing cash assistance to indi-
viduals as a donor. In all, the American Red Cross September 11 Recovery
Program distributed more than $3.5 million in cash assistance through
the 9/11 Roundtable, mostly to recovery workers. But, to distribute this
cash assistance to the recovery workers, NYDIS once again called upon
faith communities to provide assistance to sustain case management to
navigate developing recovery plans for this emerging 9/11 community.
Quoting text from a 2006 report to the American Red Cross, NYDIS
shared the value of partnering with faith communities:

Anticipating this scenario, NYDIS secured funding from Episcopal Relief and
Development to make four “Continuity of 9/11 Services” subgrants. These grants
were given to four case management agencies in strategic locations, with special
focus on the ability of each agency to serve WTC recovery workers. Through
these grants and coaching from the new 9/11 Outreach Coordinator, case man-
agement agencies were able to return to case management presentations at the
NYC 9/11 Unmet Needs Roundtable at the beginning of February.