Hurricane Sandy left Ms. Chen and Ms. Luo, two home attendants in Chinatown, without power or running water, but they put their own concerns secondary as they tended to their elderly patients whose own loss of electricity and water came as a far greater burden. Below is the translation of a World Journal article, originally in Chinese.
Ms. Luo (left) and Ms. Chen (right) continued taking care of their patients without a trace of complaint, despite having no water or electricity. (Photo by Yichen Tu/World Journal)
“Today (Nov. 2), I have made nine trips back and forth from the 9th floor. I am afraid that my patients won’t have any water to drink.”
On the Lower East Side, where there was no electricity and no running water, Ms. Chen and Ms. Luo have been two very conscientious home attendants. They work tirelessly to make sure that their elderly patients would still be able to maintain normalcy despite the lack of running water and electricity. Under the care of these two, and other home care attendants, many elderly residents in Chinatown are still able to maintain a basic standard of living, despite not having power or water.
Ms. Chen and Ms. Luo themselves have been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Ms. Chen lives on the southern tip of Brooklyn, close to Coney Island. Her basement is flooded, and her house has neither electricity nor running water, or any cell phone reception. The subways near her home are also closed, so she must switch buses four times. It takes her three and a half hours to arrive at her workplace, Chinatown’s BRC Senior Center. Ms. Luo lives on the 35th floor of Confucius Plaza in Chinatown. She also does not have running water or electricity and must walk up and down everyday to get water. Together, they serve a wheelchair-bound mother and daughter, who live on the ninth floor of the BRC Senior Center. Ms. Luo also serves other patients on the same floor of the building.
According to Ms. Chen, she had saved water and some non-perishables ahead of time. Because she still has gas, she did her best to cook something warm for her patients in the dark. However, after Oct. 31, the perishables and water had run out. She had to rely on other organizations to supplement her food. “The elder has been eating bread for the past two days. I would like to get something hot for her to eat but I can’t find places selling hot food,” she said.
On Nov. 2, a volunteer team from the Harvard Alumni Association in New York sent over supplies from the federal government to the BRC Senior Center. Ms. Chen was concerned when she saw the vacuum-packaged meals. “I’m not sure if seniors are used to this kind of food but at least she no longer needs to eat bread.” In order for her patients to have drinking water and keep the toilet running, Ms. Chen kept going back and forth for water. “No electricity and no running water is already torturous for healthy people, let alone the patients,” she said.
According to Ms. Luo, she had saved water for her neighbor, who was also a patient of hers. However, the neighbor, who had never experienced a hurricane before, poured it out. But once the hurricane hit and they lost power and water, the patient asked, “What do I do now without water to drink?” Ms. Luo, who is more than 50 years old, still tirelessly carries water up from the water basin on the first floor of Confucius Plaza. “My own two legs are so tired from carrying water,” said Ms. Luo. The conscientious attitude of these two home attendants helps bring some comfort and light to the darkened BRC Senior Center.