Council members call on students to help seniors through storm

Pitt students reached out Wednesday night to 1,100 senior citizens cut off from essentials,… Pitt students reached out Wednesday night to 1,100 senior citizens cut off from essentials, such as heat and medicine, because of the winter snowstorm.

Twenty-four students camped out in an almost empty WQED television station studio, supplied by a night’s worth of pizza and pop. Using the phones WQED uses for its pledge drives, the students volunteered to make a different kind of pledge — one with the seniors of the city.

During “Snowmageddon 2010,” many students might have been excited to miss three or four days of classes. That same snow, however, presents a very different — and dangerous — situation for many less mobile seniors.

“I just talked to a lady that couldn’t get to the doctor,” student Fata Karva said. “She said she was going to have to miss her chemo treatment.”

City Council members Patrick Dowd and Theresa Kail-Smith anticipated these kinds of problems and worked together to organize the volunteers.

The city’s 311 line — dedicated to nonemergency services — has been active in taking the calls of many people, including seniors, affected by the snow. However, Dowd and Smith said they knew that many seniors were not calling in.

“These are the kinds of people we’re trying to reach out to. They haven’t made calls yet, but they might not have heat, they’re out of oxygen or out of insulin. That’s who make up the 1,100,” Dowd said.

By contacting Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s office and the group SeniorInterests, a city organization dedicated to the welfare of seniors, the Council members were able to create a list of the 1,100 seniors. WQED lent out its studio and telephones for the event.

As for the actual volunteering, Dowd said that he specifically wanted to get students involved.

“We really wanted to tap into that young energy,” he said

By getting into contact with Shawn Brooks, director of Residence Life, organizers found 24 resident assistants and other Pitt students who wanted to help the older population of Pittsburgh. The volunteers wrote down the seniors’ problems and told them to WQED so that the city could address the issues.

“The main thing is to let people know that we’re there,” Dowd said. “If there are any problems the students will take note of it, and we’ll make follow-up calls.”