{"id":29054,"date":"2017-09-13T14:21:58","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T18:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=29054"},"modified":"2017-10-04T11:11:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T15:11:19","slug":"labor-secretary-alexander-acosta-visits-special-needs-victims-of-hurricane-irma-at-fiu-shelter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2017\/09\/labor-secretary-alexander-acosta-visits-special-needs-victims-of-hurricane-irma-at-fiu-shelter\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta visits special needs victims of Hurricane Irma at FIU shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-29055\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/acost-visits-fiu-after-huricane-irma.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"710\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/acost-visits-fiu-after-huricane-irma.jpg 710w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/acost-visits-fiu-after-huricane-irma-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/acost-visits-fiu-after-huricane-irma-230x130.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 710px) 100vw, 710px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Offering financial support and words of comfort, U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta visited a specialized shelter for displaced victims of Hurricane Irma at FIU\u2019s main campus. All are residents of Monroe County and many of their homes are destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big message is that Florida is not alone,\u201d said Acosta, who until recently was Dean of FIU\u2019s College of Law. \u201cThe president wants to support us as we rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Labor has allocated $30 million in dislocated worker assistance to meet the needs of Florida workers impacted by Hurricane Irma. Additionally, the disaster unemployment assistance program, providing benefits to those who have lost their jobs or are self-employed and can no longer work, has been activated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlex\u2019s visit to this special needs shelter at FIU show his commitment to our community,\u201d said FIU president Mark Rosenberg.<\/p>\n<p>The shelter at FIU houses 110 special needs patients and is led by teams from the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County and the U.S. Department of Health. A top priority, the health specialists pointed out, is the need for Spanish speaking nurses and doctors. Also a larger space for the evacuees and greater resources for their care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIU opening the doors of a shelter to the elderly from Monroe County speaks to FIU\u2019s heart,\u201d said Acosta.<\/p>\n<p>Some shelter residents are working to help their companions. Hollie Bethany, a resident of Big Pine Key whose home was destroyed, urged Acosta to set up computers at the FIU shelter so Irma\u2019s victims could fill out disaster unemployment applications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m familiar with the process, if we can set up a few computers I could train them,\u201d said Bethany, referring to others at the shelter in need of assistance. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of FIU team and the help they are giving us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Key West resident Maria Morales, accompanied by her son, shared her story with Acosta. She knows nothing about their home, hasn\u2019t been able to communicate with neighbors or friends, and has little or no money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have only our car, a little bit of food and no money,\u201d said Morales. \u201cI need to help my son make money so we can pay bills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Acosta remains confident that despite the destruction from Irma, South Florida will recover.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are a resilient community,\u201d said Acosta, recalling the days after hurricanes Andrew and Wilma. \u201cWe will bounce back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mBWVUXl5YmM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Offering financial support and words of comfort, U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta visited a specialized shelter for displaced victims of Hurricane Irma at FIU\u2019s main campus. All are residents of Monroe County and many of their homes are destroyed. \u201cThe big message is that Florida is not alone,\u201d said Acosta, who until recently was Dean [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":29055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4228,4229],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29054"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29058,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054\/revisions\/29058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}