January 14, 2010

Stroger to Kick Off Cook County Haitian Relief Effort

Plan ranges from employee fundraising to supporting County nurses heading to Haiti to tackle growing humanitarian crisis in areas devastated by Tuesday quake.

Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger convened County staff and community members at Stroger Hospital today to announce the kickoff of a range of relief efforts to support the people of Haiti in the wake of Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. In attendance were staff from offices and agencies that included the Cook County Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency; Cook County Health & Hospitals System; the National Nurses Organizing Committee – including two Stroger Hospital nurses of Haitian-American heritage who plan to travel to Haiti on a medical delegation in the coming days, Margarette Dupiton of Neuro and Marie Noisette, who’s with the ICU/Burn Unit; the Cook County Bureau of Administration; Office of Capital Planning; Bureau of Administration; and SEUI Local 73, which represents thousands of County workers. Clergy and members of the metro area’s Haitian American community also attended, including Maria Josee Limage of the Midwest Association of Haitian American Women and John St. Preux of the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti.

President Stroger’s staff is organizing and supporting efforts that include support for Cook County nurses planning to travel to Haiti in the coming days to participate in relief efforts through charitable groups and the federal government; the kick-off in the coming days of a Cook County employee fundraising drive to raise funds for relief efforts; and collaborative outreach to County elected officials and agencies to encourage support for relief efforts over the long term. Groups targeted for support include Yele Haiti and the Haitian Crisis Relief Fund.

“This disaster is literally right at our doorstep,” said President Stroger. “We’re committed to doing all we can to support relief efforts in Haiti, just as our employees have answered the call to support relief efforts for other disasters, from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 911 attacks to the 1999 earthquake that devastated Izmit and other towns in Turkey.“

Stroger has asked health officials to facilitate the nurses’ requests to travel to Haiti to provide medical assistance to earthquake victims, including ensuring that their benefits and status remain intact during their time abroad, just as the County provided to workers who traveled to New Orleans in 2005 and New York City in September, 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Dozens of Cook County nurses have already volunteered for the effort, including scores of nurses who are of Haitian heritage and still have family and friends on the island.

President Stroger’s office will ask employees to write checks to support the relief effort, and has also reached out to local community resources that include CAN-TV to ask that videotape gathered by the nurses on the island be afforded time on local airwaves, along with presentations by local members of the Haitian American community about conditions on the ground. That video will also be showcased on Cook County’s dedicated cable outlet through cable channel 900. President Stroger is also assembling a network of ministers and civic activists to collaborate with his office and other County officials to get aid to Haiti, and has tasked the Cook County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency with coordinating County-supported relief efforts with state and local emergency management offices. His intergovernmental affairs staff is reaching out to County commissioners and other local elected officials for support of a County resolution that would allow Cook County to allocate available resources, surplus equipment and funding as needed for the effort.

“We’re only just beginning to understand the appalling scope of this crisis,” said President Stroger. “Officials are estimating the death toll at tens of thousands, and millions have been affected by this disaster. Haiti is our neighbor, and thousands of Haitian Americans call Cook County home today. We share a commitment to the common good that motivates all of us to stand together in times of great trauma and need – times like the people of Haiti confront today. I commend our nurses for leading the way in extending a helping hand to the people of Haiti, and call on all Cook County employees and residents to join us in this effort.“

Watch excerpts from the Haitan relief kickoff event on the Cook County YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/CookCountyGovernment