Disaster Recovery- Elders, San Antonio Puerto Rico

Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza, Inc. continued providing elderly services during the time of Covid-19 pandemic.  Our office was closed because of the virus from March 15 until June 2020.   During this period the employees were working from their homes.  Follow up to our participants was done by phone, and in some cases our contact was an elderly relative. 

We coordinated the distribution of groceries to our 50 elderly participants so they could stay at home with some food. They received  vegetables, fruits, non-perished items four (4) times.  To prevent Covid-19 virus they got kits with alcohol, hand sanitizer, gloves and masks twice (2).  They also received hygiene items like soap, tooth paste, etc.  By this way the elderly had for their basic needs at home and should not be put at risk going out.

Our office was opened again in July 1, 2020 following the hygiene protocol previously made for the working areas and for the participant visits. During this period our organization distributed 1,332 lunches on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays to the elderly.  Until today all of our elderly participants are in good health.  

Beside the regular services, we verified if they received the federal incentive for the Covid-19 and if the Census 2020 document was completed.  We contacted the local Census office and with an employee they visited 17 participants to help them to complete it.   

Even though the difficult time because of the Covid-19 our organization has been very responsible managing the situation in order to protect the employees and our participants.  We appreciate the donors and GlobalGiving for their support.

Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza main mission is to improve the quality of life of low income elderly participants, most of them living alone or without someone who can take care of them.

We continued providing them with health follow up, a housekeeper and meal distributing until mid March when started the critical situation regarding Covid-19. Our personnel provided orientation to all participants about steps to be follow like:   stay at home, do not receive visitors, use of gloves and masks, we contacted relatives even if they don’t live with the participant and provided written information about the virus symptoms and instructions of what they must do.

The following services were provided to prepare the elderly for the quarantine:  distributed disinfectant, masks and gloves to the cook and two employees who distributed the meals.  Groceries were also distributed so that the elderly could have something to eat as many stores are closed and/or some participants do not have transportation. 

Up to this date, all 50 participants are safe and following instructions at their homes. We expect to be able to provide them with masks, gloves, cleaning and disinfectant articles which are necessary during the next weeks until this difficult period finish.  

Our administrative personal is aware of the elderly needs, precaution to be taken and are doing some remote follow up. We appreciate the support of GG and the donors during this new situation.

The distribution of the elderly meals to 50 participants of Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza continued during Saturdays and Sundays. We distributed 1,357 healthy meals. Our driver and a volunteer have been doing this task and the participants told them how pleased they are with this service.

Some other activities during this period were:

Basic need and clothing distribution were done with a University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Campus students.    We identified seven elders who were in need of goods and we were able to provide them. Some of our participants received paint bucketsbecausewe found that their houses paint was in bad condition. During Christmas our participants received a cordless COB-light switch so they can be in a safety environment during the night, especially if for some reason our community is without the electric power. With the recent January earthquakes our island was without power for several days and the gift was very useful.

Our nurse visited 46 of our participants to follow up their health as they have different conditions and provided hygiene and nutrition orientations.

Two elders were living in infrahuman conditions, the homes in very bad condition, our organization and 16 volunteers cleaned the houses.  There are some other houses to receive similar attention in the future.  We continue with the house reconstruction of participants and elders from the community who were affected by hurricaine Maria,  

Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza provided transportation to medical appointments and governmental agencies to 19 elders. We also were able to get documents like medical prescriptions and laboratory reports for them.

We referred four participants to Senior Center so they can receive a meal from Monday to Friday and a housekeeper. Our housekeeper visited ten participants to clean their homes.  

 Services provided have been possible thanks to our donors.

During this period Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza continued providing meals to our elderly participants on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  We delivered 1,876 meals to 54 participants and distributed 45 boxes of drinking water.  During August we found that 24 participants were in need of non-perishable goods and we were able to provide them with the help of some volunteers.  

Other services provided were:  contacted medical offices and got appoitments to nine (9) participants, provided transportation to medical appointments to 13 participants and medical plans renewal to two (2) elders.  These services are very important because the elderly health is fragile and need constant follow up.

Our main achievement is related to one of our participant who lived in unhealthy and threatening conditions from people close to him.  Our organization helped him to obtain the requiered documents to get an apartment in an idependent living complex for the elderly.  We helped him with the apartment and electricity deposit.  He has the apartment key and will be moving soon. The participant was very happy and grateful for the support received from our organization.

Thanks to a GlobalGiving grant and in coordination with "Puerto Rico Somos Gente", another non-profit organization, three (3) houses that were damaged by hurricane Maria two years ago were fixed and were still in need.  Other homes will be fix during the next months.

It's important to improve the elders quality with a clean surrounding.  Some of them like to store things and for the next period our organization will be working in this area:  to clean and dispose of any waste.  This will help their hygiene also.

We are very grateful to GlobalGiving donors who can make possible that these services can be provided to low income elders in our community.

Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza continue to support the elderly in different ways.  Our main activity was to clean and make some arrangementa in a particpant home because it's condition was inhumane.  We donate a mattress, toilet, clothing, changed a door, and provide him with non-perishable articles.  We are doing follow up so he can keep it clean.

We continue with the meal distribution from Friday to Sunday so the elderly can have a balanced meal.  We participate in a Health Fair organized by a health group in Aguadilla.  Female participants from our community went to the mammography test which we coordinate and some haven't had this test in years.  People had the opportunity to had cholesterol and blood pressure tests, haircuts, among other services.

We provided the transportation for those participants who need this service to go to their medical appointments.  The nurse visits their homes to follow up and provide any additional information they should need related to their health conditions.

Participants received a present for Mother's and Father's Day.  This was a surprise for many of them, specially the new participants.  They also received some non-perishable goods.

We are pleased that during this period we could provide all these services and the participants were able to improve their quality life.  Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza thanks our donors for their support.