BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- With help from the Red Cross, ACORN and the members of the Service Employees International Union, the local SEIU unions, 21LA & 100, are moving resources and volunteers to aid families affected by Hurricane Katrina in immediate and long-term ways.
"We've been staying in shelters and caring for the sick -- like checking for and treating infections caused by exposure to flood waters filled with sewage and toxic pollutants," said Dian Palmer, RN, President of SEIU Local 1199WI who has been volunteering in Louisiana and recruiting other nurses to volunteer.
"We hope that out of this crisis will emerge a new commitment to strengthen vital public and emergency services, and to rebuild our communities by giving all workers a living wage, affordable health care, and a chance to live the American Dream," said Maria Wickstrom, President of SEIU Local 21A in Louisiana.
Here are some of the efforts by SEIU Louisiana Locals 21LA and 100 to help the hundreds of thousands of workers and their families affected by the hurricane.
* Teams of nurses, members of SEIU from California, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington State, and Wisconsin, have traveled to Louisiana and Texas, helping victims needing medical care. Most were deployed by the Red Cross, Remote Area Medical and other agencies. More SEIU nurses and crisis/grief counselors will arrive in the coming weeks. * SEIU locals are coordinating donation of much-needed medical supplies by hospitals; SEIU Local 1199 in New York coordinated the delivery this weekend of 5,000 doses of tetanus vaccine to the Office of Public Health, the Red Cross, and shelters, donated by the Greater New York Hospital Association. SEIU Local 1199WI in Wisconsin arranged delivery of 50 boxes of tetanus vaccine donated by hospitals. * An SEIU Mobile Action Center -- a tractor trailer remodeled with computers for phone and internet service -- is assisting the 44,000 residents of hard-hit Washington Parish in Franklinton, Louisiana, so that relief and rescue personnel and residents can reunite with their families, find temporary jobs, shelter and other necessities. * SEIU in Washington, DC, has seeded the international union's Hurricane Relief Fund with an initial $100,000 to aid the 2,500 SEIU members in the region who work for schools, local governments, nursing homes, and in commercial buildings. SEIU's 1.8 million members from the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico are raising thousands more to help members and their families rebuild their lives.
The Service Employees International Union, SEIU, represents 1.8 million members around the country in public service, health care and building services. In Louisiana, SEIU Local 21LA represents employees in the local and state public sector, and SEIU Local 100 represents employees in the private sector.
Service Employees International UnionCONTACT: Maria Wickstrom, +1-225-383-7940, mariawick@hotmail.com; or ifnurses or mental health counselors are needed: Ron Neimark,+1-225-772-6380, or Bill Borwegen, +1-800-424-8492, all of ServiceEmployees International Union
Web site: http://www.seiu.org/