The 2010 haiti earthquake: aarp foundation relief efforts helping seniors

(This story was originally published in 2014, when Lisa Marsh Ryerson was president of AARP Foundation, a role she held from 2013 to 2022.) When disaster strikes, older people face unique

challenges that are often neglected, if not overlooked entirely. While many organizations are set up to meet the needs of children and younger adults, they are often ill-equipped to address

the distinct needs of older people. Unfortunately, seniors are too often relegated to the sidelines, their plight undermined by their age, desensitizing others to their value along the

spectrum of life. This was starkly apparent when AARP Foundation President Lisa Marsh Ryerson visited Haiti this past February with a delegation from AARP that included CEO A. Barry Rand and

Debra Whitman, the executive vice president for Policy Strategy and International Affairs. They were there to assess the impact of the $1.5 MILLION THAT AARP AND AARP FOUNDATION RAISED IN

THE WAKE OF THE DEVASTATING HAITI EARTHQUAKE OF 2010. Some 250,000 people were killed in the event, and more than 84,000 people 60 and over were injured or left homeless. A lot of the lives

lost were adults in their middle years, leaving behind grandparents to take care of orphaned children. And yet very few resources were being directed to support the recovery of these older

survivors and their “new” families. As they toured one community, Lisa talked with a grandmother named Rosalie who put it succinctly: “We are mistreated. We are treated with contempt.” We

all felt a swelling sense of compassion when we  heard those words. Because, of course, these individuals are not at all objects of contempt to us. Indeed, they are exactly the people we’d

intended to reach when we issued a call for AARP members and other supporters to assist us in raising funds in the aftermath of that tragic earthquake. It was so gratifying to find that

these funds were making a real difference. To begin with, we found an excellent partner for our work. The money we raised went to support the work of HelpAge International, a fantastic

organization that assists older people and defends their rights around the world. Because HelpAge had opened an office in Haiti just a year before the earthquake, they were well positioned

to direct support to where it would do the most good, such as establishing Older People’s Associations. These support groups established “Friends Networks” consisting of older local

residents in relatively good shape who helped identify others in need. It was a demonstrable reflection of neighbors helping neighbors.