Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,158
- Reaction score
- 7
Alerts failing the deaf by Evansville Courier & Press
Regardless of whether she has work, Nancy Chreste will stay up all night glued to the television anytime there's a tornado watch or warning in effect.
It's because the 73-year-old Chreste is severely hard of hearing and won't be awakened by her weather radio, even with its volume turned all the way up.
When a deadly overnight tornado touched down Nov. 6, 2005, at Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, Chreste was living in an apartment a half-mile away.
"And I had no idea that it had happened," she said, adding efforts since that disaster have largely ignored people like her. "Now, mobile homes are going to have their foundations anchored down, they're going to have weather radios installed. More sirens are being put up. But there hasn't been anything about the deaf and the hearing impaired."
So Chreste is working to change it. She is part of an effort led by Sycamore Services, an agency that serves people with special needs, to make sure Evansville's deaf and hard-of-hearing population isn't forgotten when it comes to disaster preparedness.
Sycamore Services Director Michelle Kirk and Chreste, who began working as a community consultant there this year, are applying for grants and planning fundraising efforts to collect money to purchase specially equipped weather radios that do not rely on audio.
The devices cost about $150 — five times as much as a standard weather radio — but they feature a strobe light, a vibrating extension that can be placed under a pillow and a small printer that spits out information about the storm.
Kirk said the need is there. A 2003 National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders study estimated Vanderburgh County has 1,650 deaf residents and more than 12,000 who are hard of hearing.
Together, Kirk and Chreste are seeking three grants that could provide tens of thousands of dollars toward purchasing the specially equipped radios.
Sycamore Services is also planning at least one fundraiser this summer.
"The intention, of course, is to try and save a life," Kirk said.
Kelly McConnell, a 44-year-old Evansville resident who is deaf, knows about the dangers of not having an effective warning system.
McConnell was living in Eastbrook when the tornado struck. It destroyed virtually everything inside her home. She recalls waking to find the bed was moving, glass was shattering and debris was flying all about.
McConnell, her boyfriend and two of her three children who were home at the time escaped injury, though McConnell said the home ended up looking like a bomb had gone off.
More needs to be done to help warn the deaf population, she said.
Despite surviving that tornado, McConnell still doesn't own a specially equipped radio because she can't afford one.
"It's not fair that hearing people get this information and deaf people do not," she said through a phone interpreter.
Chreste also does not own the special radio because of the cost. And she said many people with hearing disabilities either have a low-paying job or no job, pushing the $150 devices out of their budgets.
That's where the fundraising efforts through Sycamore Services come in. If successful, Chreste and Kirk said they will be able to buy the radios in bulk and distribute them to people who need them.
Chreste believes the response will be positive once the community understands and recognizes the problem.
"How can you say no when you're asking to help someone save a life of someone who's not able to help themselves?" she asked.
She looks forward to having an effective warning system in place herself.
"It will be a big relief," Chreste said. "Because then I'll get some sleep."
Regardless of whether she has work, Nancy Chreste will stay up all night glued to the television anytime there's a tornado watch or warning in effect.
It's because the 73-year-old Chreste is severely hard of hearing and won't be awakened by her weather radio, even with its volume turned all the way up.
When a deadly overnight tornado touched down Nov. 6, 2005, at Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, Chreste was living in an apartment a half-mile away.
"And I had no idea that it had happened," she said, adding efforts since that disaster have largely ignored people like her. "Now, mobile homes are going to have their foundations anchored down, they're going to have weather radios installed. More sirens are being put up. But there hasn't been anything about the deaf and the hearing impaired."
So Chreste is working to change it. She is part of an effort led by Sycamore Services, an agency that serves people with special needs, to make sure Evansville's deaf and hard-of-hearing population isn't forgotten when it comes to disaster preparedness.
Sycamore Services Director Michelle Kirk and Chreste, who began working as a community consultant there this year, are applying for grants and planning fundraising efforts to collect money to purchase specially equipped weather radios that do not rely on audio.
The devices cost about $150 — five times as much as a standard weather radio — but they feature a strobe light, a vibrating extension that can be placed under a pillow and a small printer that spits out information about the storm.
Kirk said the need is there. A 2003 National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders study estimated Vanderburgh County has 1,650 deaf residents and more than 12,000 who are hard of hearing.
Together, Kirk and Chreste are seeking three grants that could provide tens of thousands of dollars toward purchasing the specially equipped radios.
Sycamore Services is also planning at least one fundraiser this summer.
"The intention, of course, is to try and save a life," Kirk said.
Kelly McConnell, a 44-year-old Evansville resident who is deaf, knows about the dangers of not having an effective warning system.
McConnell was living in Eastbrook when the tornado struck. It destroyed virtually everything inside her home. She recalls waking to find the bed was moving, glass was shattering and debris was flying all about.
McConnell, her boyfriend and two of her three children who were home at the time escaped injury, though McConnell said the home ended up looking like a bomb had gone off.
More needs to be done to help warn the deaf population, she said.
Despite surviving that tornado, McConnell still doesn't own a specially equipped radio because she can't afford one.
"It's not fair that hearing people get this information and deaf people do not," she said through a phone interpreter.
Chreste also does not own the special radio because of the cost. And she said many people with hearing disabilities either have a low-paying job or no job, pushing the $150 devices out of their budgets.
That's where the fundraising efforts through Sycamore Services come in. If successful, Chreste and Kirk said they will be able to buy the radios in bulk and distribute them to people who need them.
Chreste believes the response will be positive once the community understands and recognizes the problem.
"How can you say no when you're asking to help someone save a life of someone who's not able to help themselves?" she asked.
She looks forward to having an effective warning system in place herself.
"It will be a big relief," Chreste said. "Because then I'll get some sleep."
