Health agency following up after Harvey
Survey will measure response, aid to area during emergencies
Aldine resident Juan Cazares lived with his aunt and two dogs in a house on Halls Bayous that took on a foot-and-a-half of water during Hurricane Harvey. The family remains displaced, living in a small garage nearby.
“The house is still a mess,” he said. “Nothing has been repaired.”
He admits it can be frustrating, mostly for his aunt, who loves cooking.
“She gets depressed,” he said. “She loves cooking for people.”
Staff and volunteers from Harris County Public Health visited Aldine and Seabrook after Harvey. Cazares is one of the many people receiving follow-up visits from those workers. Teams went doorto-door conducting Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response, a survey designed to provide quick and at-lowcost information about a community.
“What we’re really interested in doing is to connect with the community,” said Dr. Umair A. Shah, the HCPH executive director. “We believe strongly that health happens in the community where you live, learn, work, worship and play.”
Shah said it is important to recognize that the recovery process can take a toll on mental health. Dozens of volunteers go through a “mental-health briefing and debriefing” before and after visiting the community.
“What we wanted to do was remind ourselves that we also have to be ready for what the questions and the response from the community is going to be,” he said.
The Aldine area, where more than 60 percent of homes were damaged by Harvey, should serve as a good signpost for the rest of the region, experts said.
“This is one of the hardest hit areas in the county,” said Mac McClendon, the department’s Director of Public Health Preparedness and Response. “So, if we can collect data in what we’re doing here, then we can somewhat assume that the other areas are experiencing the same type of thing.”
McClendon said this is the health department’s seventh CASPER survey. They performed the survey once a year, mainly for experience, until the Tax Day floods hit in 2016. They visited a community in Cypress.
“When we were in Cypress, we discovered a neighborhood that had been isolated and did not know all the government services or other social services out there,” Shah said. “It was tough, but we were the first agency touching them. And it wasn’t a pleasant scene. People were crying and emotional.”
When the team left Cazares’s home, they provided him — as well as the others — phone numbers and other resources in case of a future emergency and to address housing concerns, such as mold and rodents. The department is also providing a Mobile Health Village event on Sept. 22 for the community, where they will provide free immunizations, wellness screenings and more.
“Things are not the way they’re supposed to be, but you can’t do anything about it,” Cazares said, “We’re getting a little help one at a time.”