21 minute read
Flood assistance deadline approaching
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR
With a deadline looming and many in Western North Carolina still struggling to recover from deadly flooding this past August, officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Association want to make one thing clear: help in the form of lowinterest loans is still available, but it won’t be here forever.
“The strong message that we want to get out is that the deadline is Nov. 8 for survivors and residents to fill out their registration with FEMA,” said Rossyveth Rey-Berrios, a Spanish/English media relations specialist with FEMA. “This is the first step.”
Typically, those seeking individual assistance from FEMA have experienced flood damage to their homes, although other types of losses may also be covered. But FEMA works as sort of a tag-team with the SBA to deliver relief to victims.
“FEMA provides safe, sanitary and secure provisions. Their purpose is to come in as soon as the disaster is declared and make sure that people can eat, that they have somewhere to stay and they can subsist,” said Terrell Perry, a public affairs specialist for the SBA. “And then they apply with SBA. SBA helps to start repairing your structure or replacing your contents, replacing your cars, et cetera.”
During FEMA registration, applicants will need to have a few things handy, like a checking account and routing number, the affected property’s address and a phone number.
Sharon Gadbois, a public affairs specialist with the SBA, said that upon registering with FEMA, applicants will likely get kicked over to the SBA though an email link.
Although the SBA does indeed deal with small businesses — as the name suggests — people shouldn’t be confused by that, because the SBA is very much ready to handle applications by individuals.
“We have four different types of disaster loans,” Gadbois said. “We have them for homeowners, renters, businesses and nonprofits and then also we have mitigation. For homeowners and renters, you don’t need to have a business.”
More documentation will be required at this stage of the process, including a driver’s license and a blank, dated, voided check. Applicants should also be sure to note their application number on all document submissions, in case the documents get misfiled along the way.
Loans granted through this process are designed to expedite home repair for the underinsured, the uninsured and those with insurance.
For example, an insured homeowner who experienced damage would typically file an insurance claim, get an estimate for the cost of the repairs and engage a contractor, paying that contractor out-of-pocket or waiting for a check from their insurance company before beginning work.
With a disaster assistance loan, that homeowner wouldn’t have to use personal savings to pay the contractor, or wait for the insurance check to come. Instead, they could use the proceeds of the loan and when the insurance company check comes, use that to pay off the loan.
If the homeowner already dipped into savings, the loan could be used to replenish those funds, and if the insurance company doesn’t quite provide enough funding for the repairs, the loan could help bridge that gap.
“Most people do not know that if they already have repaired or rebuilt their property, they can get from reimbursed for that expense,” Rey-Berrios said.
The same goes for renters who have lost personal property, or uninsured homeowners. Home repair can be expensive, especially if you’re footing the entire bill with cash, so the loan could help lessen the sting for some.
It does so in a variety of ways, as a disaster assistance loan is a different animal than the more common bank loan.
“We do look at credit, however, we don’t solely grant loans based on credit,” said Perry. “We take into consideration assets as well as history, as well as for businesses, revenue potential. Those kinds of things we take into consideration. Normal financial institutions may or may not take those into consideration.”
Loans are typically disbursed two or three weeks after approval, and applicants generally have up to six months to accept them. Applicants don’t have to accept the full amount, either. Once accepted, the loans don’t require the first payment for a full 18 months. Terms are usually 15 to 30 years with no prepayment penalty and offer rock-bottom fixed interest rates: 1.563% for homeowners, and 2.855% for businesses.
Of particular interest to people in the declared individual disaster area (Buncombe, Haywood and Transylvania counties) are the thousands of private roads and bridges across the mountainous west. Perry said they’re covered too.
“Sometimes they’re owned by individuals, so the individual would need to apply. And then sometimes several families use the private road or bridge. In that case, the families would need to come together and make sure that their individual loan officers know,” Perry said. “If you have a homeowners association that owns the road or bridge, the HOA would apply.”
The entire endeavor is designed to be quick, easy and beneficial to victims of natural disasters, but complications resulting in denials can occur. Although there is an appeals process in the event of an unfavorable determination, sometimes the ultimate reason people are denied assistance is of their own making.
“Encourage your readers to please take their time when filling out the application. It’s very important because when they call in to ask about their application, they have to verify their identity and if those key things are not there, then they’ll be like, ‘Sorry, I can’t talk to you anymore,’ and [people] get frustrated,” Gadbois said. “It’s very important that they double-check, triple-check, even a bank account.”
SBA Small Business Recovery Centers
Physical disaster loans from the SBA remain available to businesses, nonprofits, homeowners and renters in Buncombe, Haywood, and Transylvania counties. Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) are available to small businesses and most nonprofits in a wider area to include Henderson, Jackson, Madison, McDowell, Rutherford, Swain and Yancey counties in North Carolina, as well as Greenville, Oconee and Pickens counties in South Carolina and Cocke and Sevier counties in Tennessee. Apply online at sba.gov/disaster using declaration #17155 or call 800.659.2955. Or, meet one-on-one with an SBA rep for answers to your questions at one of several field operations centers in the declared disaster area.
HCC Regional High-Tech Center
• 112 Industrial Drive room 3021,
Waynesville • Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A-B Tech Enka Campus
• 1465 Sand Hill Road, suite 1054, Candler • Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Blue Ridge Community College Brevard Campus
• 45 Oak Park Drive, Applied Technologies
Building office 216, Brevard • Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. 4:30 p.m.
*offices are closed on federal holidays
Individuals affected with flood damage covered by President Joe Biden’s emergency declaration of Sept. 8 (Buncombe, Haywood and Transylvania counties) are encouraged to register with FEMA by Nov. 8, in reference to North Carolina Disaster Declaration DR4617-NC. There are several ways to do so.
• Online: fema.gov • Smartphone app: apple.com/app-store or samsung.com/us/apps/galaxy-store • Telephone: 800.621.3362
WAYNESVILLE TIRE, INC.
Tires • Brakes • • Alignment • Road Service • Tractor Tires
JustDoOils.com
La Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias (FEMA, por sus siglas en inglés) se compromete a ayudar a todos los sobrevivientes de desastre elegibles a recuperarse de la tormenta tropical Fred, incluyendo los ciudadanos estadounidenses, los nacionales no ciudadanos y los extranjeros cualificados.
Para ser elegible para la asistencia del Programa de Individuos y Familias (IHP, por sus siglas en inglés) de FEMA, usted o un miembro de su hogar debe ser ciudadano estadounidense, nacional no ciudadano o extranjero cualificado. Sin embargo, las familias indocumentadas con condición migratoria diversa solo necesitan que un miembro de la familia (incluyendo un hijo menor) sea ciudadano estadounidense, nacional no ciudadano o extranjero cualificado con número de Seguro Social para solicitar asistencia.
La fecha límite para solicitar asistencia de FEMA es el 8 de noviembre de 2021.
Un extranjero cualificado incluye a los siguientes: • Residente permanente legal (titular de tarjeta verde) • Asilado, refugiado o extranjero cuya deportación está siendo denegada • Extranjero que entró a los EE. UU. bajo palabra durante al menos un año • Extranjero que obtuvo entrada condicional (por ley en vigencia antes del 1 de abril de 1980) • Cubano/haitiano admitido • Ciertos extranjeros que han sido sujetos a crueldad extrema o que han sido víctimas de una forma severa del tráfico humano, incluyendo las personas con una visa “T” o “U.”
Si no está seguro de su condición migratoria, hable con un experto en inmigración para averiguar si su situación corresponde a alguno de los requisitos de condición migratoria para alas asistencia por desastre de FEMA.
Los adultos que son elegibles por estar en una de las tres categorías indicadas arriba, incluyendo a los indocumentados, pueden solicitar asistencia en nombre de un hijo menor que cumple los requisitos y tiene un número de Seguro Social. El menor debe vivir con el padre, madre o tutor que solicita la asistencia en su nombre. El padre, madre o tutor no tendrá que proporcionar ninguna información sobre su propia condición migratoria y no tendrá que firmar ningún documento sobre su propia condición.
ORGANIZACIONES VOLUNTARIAS
Las organizaciones voluntarias ofrecen ayuda independientemente de su condición migratoria. Para encontrar organizaciones voluntarias en su área de desastre: • Llame al 800-RED CROSS (800.733.2767) o visite la página web de www.redcross.org/findyour-local-chapter.html. • Para aprender más sobre otras organizaciones voluntarias, visite www.ncvoad.org.
Los sobrevivientes en los condados afectados pueden solicitar asistencia de las siguientes maneras: • Para solicitar la asistencia por desastre de FEMA, visite DisasterAssistance.gov/es, llame al 800.621.3362 o use la aplicación móvil de FEMA para teléfonos inteligentes. Si usted usa un servicio de retransmisión, tal como el Servicio de Retransmisión de Video (VRS, por sus siglas en inglés), servicio telefónico con subtítulos u otros, proporcione a FEMA el número de ese servicio. Las líneas telefónicas están disponibles los siete días de la semana, de 7 a.m. a 11 p.m. en la hora local. • Para más información sobre la recuperación de la tormenta tropical Fred en Carolina del Norte, visite fema.gov/es/disaster/4617 y ncdps.gov/TSFred. Síganos en Twitter: @NCEmergency y @FEMARegion4.
— Rossyveth Rey-Berrios, Spanish/English media relations specialist with FEMA
Miscommunications in the process can also take place, but FEMA and the SBA have the resources to ensure that they’re not because of a language barrier.
Rey-Barrios said that they’ve encountered at least three significant populations in the three-county disaster area that do not use English as a first language. Although the Hispanic community is an obvious guess, the other two aren’t — Greeks and Russians.
Regardless of language or nationality, undocumented people do not qualify for individual assistance from FEMA or SBA disaster loan assistance, except in one instance — through the birthright citizenship of their children.
As of Oct. 8, a total of 154 SBA disaster assistance loan applications resulted in funding of $775,000 according to Perry, but the window is rapidly closing for those who haven’t yet applied.
“After Nov. 8, registration for FEMA’s individual [assistance] system will be closed,” Rey-Berrios said. “There’s no other way that you can get registered, so we do encourage that.”
WE RECYCLE WASTE WOOD STUMPS • LIMBS • BRUSH
Ingles Nutrition Notes
written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath
Q: I have arthritis and am trying to follow a healthy diet but am on a fixed income so organic products are too expensive for me to buy regularly. Can you please advise me?
A: First, good news... you don't have to buy organic to eat healthy! The organic label refers to agricultural standards and has nothing to do with nutrition or health. That being said, we do have our Ingles store brand of organic products known as "Harvest Farms" which may be more affordable. Dietary recommendations for arthritis, and for inflammation in general, often fall in line with what is called the Mediterranean Diet:
• Daily: eat fruits and vegetables (including beans), nuts and seeds • At least 2-3 times/week ffor anti-inflammatory benefits of omega 3-fatty acids make sure you eat fish/seafood. this can be in any form - fresh, frozen or canned. • Avoid foods and beverages that are high in salt or sugar, avoid fried foods and high fat meats, limit caffeinated beverages and alcohol. • Engage in activity and exercise as ok'd by your physician. For more information try: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayoclinic-minute-fighting-arthritis-with-food/
Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian @InglesDietitian Leah McGrath - Dietitian 800.334.4936
Vecinos staff member administers COVID-19 vaccine in mobile clinic. Donated photo
VECINOS
Serving the invisible neighbors of WNC
BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER
The Coronavirus Pandemic has been a trying experience for everyone. Quarantine, the threat of serious illness and job loss have affected millions of people in the United States. But what about those who don’t have access to basic health care? How do non-English speakers find information about COVID-19? How do people without an identification card find COVID-19 testing or vaccines?
Vecinos is the word for neighbors in Spanish, and this nonprofit is working to make sure LatinX, immigrant and migrant neighbors in Western North Carolina are able to navigate the Coronavirus Pandemic.
VECINOS
Vecinos is a nonprofit health care organization serving and advocating for farm workers in Western North Carolina. The nonprofit began unofficially in 2001 when founders Josie Ellis, RN, and Dr. Mark Heffington started visiting migrant labor camps in Jackson County with a grant from the North Carolina Farmworker Health Program. Ellis and Heffington developed a medical outreach model that is still the primary method of care for Vecinos today. The idea is to break down health care barriers by bringing services directly to the workers.
The second piece of the work Vecinos does is to advocate for the social and economic wellbeing of farm workers and their families in Western North Carolina communities.
The group services the eight westernmost counties in North Carolina as well as some communities in Buncombe, Henderson and Rabun County, Georgia. In addition to clinical healthcare, Vecinos services include a monthly food bank program, wellness group classes, health education and case management services like appointment scheduling, transportation and interpretation.
“Farmworkers often feel like an invisible population,” reads the Vecinos mission statement. “At Vecinos, we don’t just offer health care, we aim to show appreciation for the important work that farm workers do, offer them the support and care that all people deserve and welcome them to our area as valuable members of our community.”
According to Farmworker Justice, a Washington-based nonprofit working to ensure safe living and working conditions for migrant and seasonal farm workers, the majority of the 2.4 million people working on farms and ranches in the United States are immigrants, at least 49% of whom lack authorized immigration status. According to the most recent data from the department of labor, foreign-born workers make up 75% of the farm workforce, United States citizens make up 29% and legal permanent residents make up 21%.
Additionally, there is an influx of migrant and immigrant workers from indigenous communities of Latin America. While legal and medical information can often be found translated into Spanish in the U.S., it is much more difficult to get that vital information in Mixtec, Zapotec, Trique or Mayan. Working with people who speak Spanish as a second language, or not at all, is just one more piece to the puzzle for Vecinos.
As Vecinos has grown in the 20 years since its inception, the model of medical outreach has largely remained the same. In addition to its normal outreach, Vecinos now aims to partner with farm owners to ensure that all farm workers are taken care of.
“With the pandemic last year, we started to see that we needed to play a different role in our communities,” said Yolanda Pinzon Uribe, community health program manager. “We needed to give our farm workers information and education about COVID. We had to be aware of all our LatinX communities, that those without any kind of health insurance had the ability to make it through the pandemic.”
For many in the LatinX, immigrant and migrant communities options are limited, Yolanda says, for reasons like immigration status, economic status or the type of job they are working.
—Yolanda Pinzon Uribe, Vecinos community health program manager
STAGE I
When the Pandemic broke out in early 2020, and shutdowns began for North Carolina in March, Vecinos was focused primarily on educating the LatinX community, informing them where and how to get tested and when testing was necessary.
In November of 2020, Vecinos started its mobile clinic. After securing a donor for free testing, the mobile clinic began making its rounds, administering free COVID-19 tests to LatinX, migrant and immigrant communities in Western North Carolina. November through January, Vecinos administered 198 tests.
The mobile clinic is staffed by both medical and non-medical support. Non-medical support focuses its efforts on outreach and communication, finding people who need assistance and medical support helps to administer testing and communicates important information about COVID-19.
Throughout the first few months of its operation, the mobile clinic was also giving out what they deemed “COVID kits,” which contained hand sanitizer, masks and information about what to do if you test positive for COVID-19, why it’s important to quarantine.
STAGE II
After the vaccine became available in December, Vecinos started to plan how they could administer vaccines to people. As the name Vecinos indicates, the organization is community minded and so they looked to partners within their community to help in the process.
“We needed to work with the health department. We needed to work with organizations, partners around Western North Carolina,” said Uribe.
Vecinos partnered with the health departments in the eight counties they serve, the International Friendship Center in
Highlands, Community Care Clinic in Highlands and Cashiers and HighlandsCashiers Hospital. The 30th Judicial District Alliance also helps connect immigrant families in need with the services Vecinos provides.
Because the LatinX community is considered a high-risk population in Western North Carolina, in part because the majority of migrant and immigrant LatinX populations don’t have health insurance, Vecinos was able to begin vaccinating people in February. The first wave of vaccines was available for people 65 and older, people working in primary care and those considered high-risk.
“I will never forget, the 14th of February in Highlands, we did a big event,” said Uribe. “At the Farm at Old Edwards in Highlands.”
That was the first vaccination event Vecinos held for LatinX people in Western North Carolina. All in all, 30 people took advantage of the event and the organizers were ecstatic.
“We made it a party. We were so happy. We believed we had made the best outreach imaginable,” said Uribe. “We danced that day. It was the best day of our lives.”
That first event gave Vecinos the confidence it needed, the understanding that it could continue to put events like the first one on for the community, and the community would show up. But the community exceeded expectations.
About 100 people attended the second vaccination clinic Vecinos hosted, then 150 at the next, then 200, then 300.
“The key definitely was the outreach, how we went out and found the people,” said Uribe. “We helped at vaccination events in Haywood, here in Jackson County. We had two big events in Sylva, one vaccinated 100 people, the other about 200 people. We helped a business in Canton to get their people vaccinated. Then all of a sudden we blinked and it was the last week of April, first week of May.”
By that first week of May Vecinos had given out 2,418 shots — 1,023 people had received the first shot, 878 people had received a second shot and 520 people had received the single shot. Some of those people had come all the way from Henderson County, Buncombe County and even Georgia to receive vaccines from the Vecinos team in a place they knew they would be safe and accepted.
For more information about Vecinos or how to volunteer, visit www.vecinos.org.
STAGE III
In speaking with her colleagues during the first week of May, Yolanda and her teammates decided they had likely vaccinated most of the people in the LatinX community who wanted to be vaccinated and who wanted to be found. The team now became interested in more intense outreach, in finding members of the LatinX community that are more difficult to reach, those that didn’t have easy access to knowledge about the services Vecinos provides whether through an employer or community organization. Uribe decided this was the perfect time to get back in the mobile clinic and find the people Vecinos had been unable to reach up to this point.
“I said, ‘I have an idea. We have mobile clinics, we can go home by home, house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood. We already have the mobile clinics where we can do this. We need to do this,’” said Uribe.
Uribe and Marianne Martinez, executive director of Vecinos, worked to find clinical support for the mobile clinic, as well as vaccines. By May 18, the mobile clinic was off, going around Jackson County, finding those in the community that needed to be vaccinated.
“I started to call it ‘One by One, All in One’ because we speak with the people one by one. It’s a mobile clinic so it’s more personal and it’s all in one. They have information, education, testing if they need it and they have the vaccine. And if they are in crisis, if we cannot help them, we can find someone who can help them,” said Uribe.
In addition to information about COVID19, testing and vaccinations, the mobile clinic also offers boxes of food and supplies for families that need to quarantine, or families that are in need of food assistance.
The mobile clinic started in Jackson County and was quickly approved to operate in Cherokee County, Graham County and Macon County.
From May 18 through Sept. 17, the Vecinos Mobile Clinic doled out 790 shots. Those consisted of 264 first shots, 192 second shots and 313 single shots.
Finding the people who needed access to COVID-19 vaccines, testing and information was one of the hardest parts for Uribe’s team. They literally had to go knock on doors, one neighborhood at a time, talking to people and offering help.
“We found that when we find people, if we have the vaccine there ready to go, they will get it,” said Uribe.
This instant approach was vital, according to Uribe. Instead of having a pre-clinic with information and paperwork in order to administer the vaccine at a later date, people were much more likely to get the vaccine if they could offer it up immediately.
It was also important to Uribe that people didn’t feel any pressure to get vaccinated.
“I want you to take the information, the best information possible to help you to make a decision, whatever the decision you make. I want you to know that I will be there for you,” said Uribe. “If you don’t want the vaccine you need to make a plan, a plan to be ready if something happens. I try to help people make a plan because if you start to become sick, the implications are big.”
The work of providing the mobile clinic to immigrant and migrant communities in Western North Carolina is grueling. The best time of day to assist people is after regular working hours. This means Uribe and her team often work a full day in their office preparing and conducting outreach. Then, the mobile clinic will leave the office around 4 or 5 p.m. to meet people where they are, at work or at home, and provide what is needed.
“Sometimes we don’t finish work in the mobile clinic until midnight, or one in the morning,” she said. “My team has a passion for helping these people, we want everyone to get the shot, it’s more than just a job.”
Moving forward, Uribe sees COVID-19 as something we need to learn how to live with, something that will likely be around for the long haul. She wants to see Vecinos continue to educate people about how to live healthy, safe lives. The measures we use to prevent COVID-19, masking, hand washing, social distance and quarantining when sick, Uribe says, also help prevent countless other dangerous illnesses.
“It’s not only for COVID, it’s for many things. It’s health education, it’s quality of life, it’s wellness and we need to work on that. What is next is to have the best program to promote wellness and good behavior.”
