LAKE COUNTY >> As it continues to aid hundreds of uninsured Valley Fire survivors, the assistance coalition Team Lake County (TLC) has some needs of its own — additional board members and case managers.
The latter has become a concern for the organization because they have only about four people working case management for than 900 hundred people that need help. Some are volunteers, while the rest are paid staff provided by the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR.
Right now, TLC doesn’t have any funding to pay for additional case managers.
“There’s definitely a need for more case managers,” former communications committee chair Errol Marchais said. “The main challenge right now: finding funds to be allocated for that purpose.”
At the Valley Fire Task Force meeting on May 3, Vice Chair Moke Simon said TLC is hoping to partner with other organizations or agencies to help meet the immediate needs of survivors since CalOES and FEMA don’t do case management.
Disaster case management is a process involving a person trained to assist and a client, either an individual or family affected by the fire. Together they set realistic recovery goals. UMCOR provided two case managers and training. Other case managers have been provided by North Coast Opportunities (NCO), St. Vincent DePaul and Catholic Charities.
According to Rev. Shannon Kimbell-Auth, part of TLC, case managers focused on temporary housing and immediate needs over the first few months following the fire.
“Finding places to stay for thousands of people who lost their homes has not been an easy task but our community rose to the challenge,” she said in an emailed statement. “As the months progressed survivors began to sort out what FEMA and OES would, and would not, provide as well as insurance.”
She estimated that half of fire survivors working with TLC were covered by some level of insurance.
TLC is critical to continued recovery. TLC coordinates the work of case managers to ensure survivors are not receiving duplication of benefits. Their efforts also help to identify anyone who might seek to scam the system.
“Once the Disaster Case Managers have worked with a client to identify a sustainable and realistic plan for rebuilding they create a budget with the client,” Kimbell-Auth explained. “Frequently the FEMA grant and other sources of income will fall short of the cost of rebuilding. The Disaster Case Manager then makes a presentation to the Unmet Need Committee.”
The Unmet Need Committee expects to hear cases over the next two years. The time involved makes adds importance to the staffing issue.
“[The Case Management Committee] is doing everything that’s expected,” Simon said. “It’s a work in progress but it is moving forward on a daily basis.”
Further status updates will be given by committee chair Jacqueline Maxman at TLC’s next meeting on June 10.
Additionally, TLC is looking for permanent leadership since Chair Shelly Mascari stepped down last month due to time-commitment conflicts. Simon, who is also the tribal chairman for the Middletown Rancheria and a District One Supervisorial candidate, has taken over operations in the interim while they search for a new leader.
A selection was supposed to be made at the organization’s meeting on May 20, Marchais said, but due to a lack of applications (only two) the board decided to delay it until the June 10.
“We’d like to give the membership a decent choice,” he added, noting that his position is also looking to be filled. “If we don’t have a lot of options at the next meeting, we will go with what we got.”
