Analysts: Pulse victims might need more aid
On a darkened dance floor one night in June, 35-year-old Frederick Johnson lost much of what he once took for granted.
Like being able to open a jar. Or drive with both hands. Or cover his bills.
An insurance underwriter from Jacksonville, Johnson was shot twice during the Pulse nightclub attack that left 49 people dead and more than 50 injured. He no longer has sensation in his left arm and can’t move his fingers on that hand.
And while he was relieved last week to learn Orlando hospitals won’t bill the victims, he still faces ongoing physical therapy — now at $700 a week — and potentially long-term mentalhealth counseling.
“The bills have already started to come in,” said Johnson, who
has yet to return to work. “I’ve been really focused on ... just recovering fully. It’s stressful thinking about the long-term costs for everything because it’s expensive.”
Many of those injured in the attack, including Johnson, are counting on money raised by the OneOrlando Fund to help them out of debt. But experts say the donations — even at $23 million and rising — likely won’t be enough to cover all the incoming bills, long-term care and lost wages.
To some survivors, the financial burden feels like another assault.
“There are people who are not able to work, who are in wheelchairs or using walkers, and what they’re going to need financially is something that is always on their mind right now,” said Terry DeCarlo, executive director of The Center — the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community center of Central Florida. “Every person has to think if I’m out of work, if I’m not getting a paycheck, what am I going to do? And these are people, thrown into this situation through no fault of their own, whose world has been turned upside down.”
The OneOrlando Fund — started in the days after the June 12 attack — has drawn generous contributions from corporations, celebrities, sports franchises and individuals, and it is still accepting donations. Orlando Health and Florida Hospital announced last week they would write off their bills to Pulse victims, and Orlando Health said the anesthesiologists, surgeons and radiologists who bill separately have agreed to follow suit.
Also, Orlando and Orange County have partnered with Heart of Florida United Way to establish the Orlando United Assistance Center to help cover victims’ immediate needs — rent, utilities, car payments, etc. Between July 11 and Aug. 22 alone, the center has had 833 incoming calls and set 235 appointments for more in-depth help.
“And we know there are victims out there who haven’t even reached out yet — absolutely,” said the center’s director, Stephanie Husted.
There’s also the state’s Victim Compensation Fund, which will cover medical bills, mental-health expenses and lost wages up to $50,000 for the catastrophically injured and $15,000 for other survivors. It has paid out more than $287,700 in Pulserelated claims so far.
And there are two nonprofit organizations, the Pulse of Orlando and the onePulse Foundation, created to provide for the financial needs of the club’s workers as well as victims and their family members.
Collectively, some may wonder, isn’t that enough?
“I think it’s hard for the average American to contemplate,” said Michael Farmer of Equality Florida, the statewide nonprofit civil-rights organization for people who are gay or transgender. “They hear [$23 million], and for most people that’s an unthinkable amount of money.
“But the reality is when you’re talking about 49 families who were affected because someone was killed, and 53 people who went to the hospital and hundreds of others who are going to be reeling from having been inside when all those things took place — when you break it down, it’s not that much in a lot of cases.”
The OneOrlando Fund board of directors has yet to determine how much will go to the families of the dead, how much to the wounded and how much to those who were in the club when the shooting began but escaped without physical injury. But Mai Fernandez, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, which is working with OneOrlando to distribute the money, said the expenses for those involved can be overwhelming.
“Even the One Fund in Boston, which was around $61 million, ended up not meeting the needs of everyone — because of these ongoing health-care needs,” Fernandez said. “And certainly nobody is becoming wealthy . ... This is to give them some of what they need.”
The April 2013 terrorist bombing of the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured more than 250 others, including 16 people who lost at least one limb to amputation. A modified van for someone using a wheelchair, Fernandez said, can cost $60,000.
“Victims and their families are left with a new reality and a multitude of needs,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who said he hopes donors will continue to give to the OneOrlando Fund before the Sept. 26 deadline, when the total will be divided for distribution.
Ted Miller, who has been studying the costs of gun violence for more than 20 years for the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, said the OneOrlando Fund will only cover a small portion of the total costs some victims might have accrued.
The loss in future earnings for survivors, including those now disabled, could easily reach $20 million alone, he said. He estimates other costs associated with their quality of life could run survivors another $16 million.
But “there’s no question that the hospitals stepping in to cover these costs will help stretch the fund a lot further,” Miller said.
Still, the level of financial anxiety remains high.
Chris Littlestar, 25, was shot five times inside the club and spent more than a week in the hospital. After his discharge, doctors found a sixth bullet was still lodged in his hip.
“I didn’t even know it was there and now I’m going to have to go back and possibly have another surgery to get it removed,” he said. “I don’t know if the Orlando Fund is going to cover it or what is going to happen.”
Rodney Sumter, 27, escaped the massacre with bullet wounds in both arms and his back. He’s had five surgeries and now sees a neurologist to try to regain feeling in parts of his right arm and fingers. He also goes to physical therapy three times a week. He hasn’t been able to return to his job at Mango’s Tropical Café, where he worked as a bartender.
“I don’t really have an [estimate] of when I’ll be able to go back to work,” Sumter said. “I’m just taking it one day at a time.”