Title: Higher Ground: The Role of Direct Support Professionals During and After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Description: When Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, hundreds of people with developmental disabilities were displaced. Roads were severely crowded or impassable. Cellphones didn’t work. Many didn’t know where their family members were. And yet direct support professionals stayed with those they supported and made sure everyone was evacuated to higher ground. For months these dedicated women and men, working long hours for low pay, put others before themselves, providing care and support with improvised resources. For these heroes of New Orleans, being a direct support professional is much more than a job.

Produced for Volunteers of America by the Research and Training Center on Community Living at the University of Minnesota. Funding provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and ANCOR.