Disaster Recovery- Elders, San Antonio Puerto Rico

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.

During this quarter the emphasis of Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza was the elderly health. A new nurse went to the eldery homes to get related with their health conditions and to verify if they were following the doctor instructions. She verified their blood pressure and glucose levels. Medical appointments for special health conditions were made for: urology, hearing and cardiology. Another two appointments were made for participants regular follow up.

The northwest area is having a running water problem because of a long dry period and the lake that supplies the water to our area (Guajataca Lake) level is getting lower constantly. Since February 22, 2019 our area has running water every other day: 24 hours of water and 24 without it. This will continue until the lake level increases. An oasis (truck with potable water) was located in our community but it's difficult for the elderly to go where it is, and imposible for the ones with physical limitations. For this reason, Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza distributed bottled water to the participants, nutritional drinks and disposable plates, forks and spoons.  Groceries and clothing were delivered to those with most need. 

Since November 2018, we are delivering meals on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. A cook prepares the food in our kitchen and the driver with the help of volunteers distributes them among our participants. We recruited ten (10) new volunteers. One of them told us:  "I'm pleased to be part of a helping hand to the elderly, they look so happy when we arrived." In this quarter our organization delivered 1,723 meals to our participants.

Some elderly had lost their documents: birth certification, electoral card, PAN and TANF and our organization helped them to get a replacement at the corresponding offices.

Thanks to our GlobalGiving donors we can provide the elderly with their basic needs, specially during this difficult time.

The last 2018 quarter Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza was able to continue with activities for the benefit of 50 elderly participants from the Disaster Recovery Program.  During this period we delivered 2,165 meals, distributed nutritional drinks twice, water bottles once and water filters.  Christmas presents and special meal was prepared to share the joy of this season.

We bought products so the cook could prepare the meals and the driver distributed them.   The donations help us to cover the payroll for them.  Our old Ford vehicle who is the one used to deliver the meals had problems with the front bulbs.  New bulbs were purchased and other minor repairs had to be made.  The kitchen was fumigate to keep it vermin free.

These were the accomplishments during the quarter:

1. Recruitd three (3) new elderly participants.

2.  Nurse reports showed that the elderly participants health has been improving after the traumatic hurricane experience. 

3.  Water bottles and water filters were distributed to the elderly to prevent epidemic diseases.

4.  Follow up showed that the elderly their nutritional needs were covered. 

5.   During this period we reached our goal to improve the living conditions of the elderly.

Year 2018 was a difficult one but thanks to all our donors we were able to continue providing services to the elderly.  Our personnel and the elderly appreciate that even with different problems after the hurricane, Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza was able to provide to their needs.

After hurricane María impacted Puerto Rico last year, our 50 participants were affected in several ways and still need special emotional attention. Social Workers visits from the ASSMCA Program were contacted to help them cope with the situation in coordination with our organization. The nutritional aspect was improved months ago as we were able to increase the meal distribution from two (2) days a week to five (5) days weekly.  

Proyecto La Nueva Esperanza has been providing follow up for those hospitalized and to all our elderly participants for their basic needs such as: disposable diapers, nutrition drinks for adults. We helped them with the medicine expenses also. A nurse visits the elderly at their homes regularly and another service we provide is a housekeeper for those that required special attention. She helps them to keep their homes clean and in a healthy environment.

Because of the economic situation many elderly couldn’t complete the process to receive services at Elderly Centers, to buy medicines and/or groceries, visit government offices, etc. The vehicles has been in use all the time which increased the gasoline and maintenance expenses. Thanks to the donations we were able cope these expenses including for the driver salary as there were additional trips which were not in our budget.

Our organization is very grateful for the Global Giving donors which helped us make a difference in the lives of the elderly.