National Case Management

A: UMCOR has 65 years’ experience leading disaster recovery services in the United States and around the world. The agency is experienced in providing direct services, such as house repair and rebuilding, and more recently in a process of client accompaniment called case management. UMCOR began and tested its successful case management system during recovery from Hurricane Andrew and perfected it significantly during the 9-11 disaster.

A: UMCOR is the umbrella agency that will provide national oversight and accountability for a coordinated case management effort involving up to 12 partners benefiting some 400,000 people. UMCOR will select its consortium partners through a proposal process, train their volunteers and managers in case management, and report on progress, financials, and accomplishments.

A: With regard to management of US Government funding, UMCOR implements multi-million dollar grants throughout the world. In any given year we are managing $25-35 million in grants for donor governments worldwide. We have the highest-ranking A-133 audit status with the US Government. We track multiple US grants with various reporting requirements, both programmatic and financial.

A: A case is a family or an individual who was living in Alabama , Louisiana , or Mississippi when Hurricane Katrina affected them. Case management is a spectrum of activity with a focus on face to face interaction that is supportive and empowering. In a disaster response setting the process offers survivors a holistic array of services and support they need to establish and successfully complete their own recovery plans and become self-sufficient. UMCOR has been training its own network in the process for 13 years, and has designed case management training for other members of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).

A: Disaster response options available to survivors are myriad. The applications, forms, and understanding of the criteria required for each service can be intimidating. Survivors often have a tough time knowing their rights and whom to trust. Case managers reach out to people having a hard time finding their way around the system—people who may not drive a car, who may have vision handicaps, who may not read and write. The case manager comes from the community and is intimately acquainted with available resources. The case manager does not hand out solutions but listens to clients, helps them see their options, and affirms them in the choices they make. The case manager’s role is to work his or her way out of a job—to enable the family or case to take on the roles and responsibilities required of them to recover.

A: Borrowed in part from social work practice, case management as UMCOR defines it connects each case—often a family, but sometimes an individual—with a trained, caring volunteer or professional who assists the applicants with designing a recovery program that fits their situation. A recovery program is a plan of action that is mapped out and monitored as applicants make progress toward their objectives. The case and the manager go through the steps together:

• Prioritize needs
• Review what relief has already been provided
• Determine whether the case is registered with FEMA
• Provide information about collecting necessary forms and identification
• Define the obstacles to their recovery
• Refer to local resources for a wide variety of assistance in order to overcome obstacles (such as shelter, food, clothing, spiritual support, child care, medical, pets, household goods, home repair, employment)
• Advocate for the case when needed.
• Offer direct aid, such as assistance with medical or utility bills, under appropriate protocols

A: To find vulnerable people isn't a scientific process so much as it is an art. There is no database that contains files stamped “vulnerable.” That would be like being diagnosed with depression through an on-line quiz versus a compassionate social worker. Instead, there are points of entry into our system, and people find out about these in various ways. Consortium members will:

• Advertise services and phone numbers
• Accept referrals from other agencies
• Build community word-of-mouth
• Conduct interviews with local media
• Work through local congregations and groups who have information on the most vulnerable
• Canvass door-to-door
• Seek out special populations
• Welcome walk-ins

Once a person or family has made contact they are assigned to a case manager to do intake. Once a client is in the system, through triage it quickly becomes apparent who the most vulnerable clients are. The way one is identified as vulnerable is really the first step in case management. Those with the greatest need receive the greatest amount of resources.

UMCOR personnel, along with the personnel from consortium members, are trained and experienced at identifying vulnerable people. They approach a community with sensitivity coupled with the ability to glean information quickly. It's something we have successfully done for years, even for people who DON'T appear as a database entry in some "system." It's not about crunching stats on people—it’s about getting into a community and reading the human need.

A: Resources available to the case include FEMA, the American Red Cross, and the services of local relief agencies. When all other resources are exhausted, the case manager can present the case to an Unmet Needs Roundtable and piece together additional aid from other agencies. Until applicants are implementing their own Recovery Action Plans and do not require further assistance, the case is continued.

A: Case management is already happening in many communities. The advantage of naming a nationally accountable umbrella agency is in its well-established relations with other case management providers in the NVOAD through voluntary participation in disaster relief roundtables. An application process has been designed to identify up to 12 other agencies, to be selected on the strength of their own networks and their geographic reach.

A: Long-term disaster recovery offices may be formed out of interfaith coalitions, or by trained United Methodist regional disaster response coordinators, and with other local agencies. Consortium field offices will be located centrally in or adjacent to the disaster zone itself (in low cost or donated space) with satellite offices if the area is large enough. Care is taken to provide cultural and language familiarity with the cases. Records are carefully kept to prevent misuse of the agency and to provide high quality consultation and referral. The trust we have from local communities, and recognition of our disaster response experience, are vitally important.

A: Members of the consortium already have extensive networks of volunteers. They will hire locally. Case management is most effective when workers are intimately acquainted with their communities and available resources.