Catholic Charities In the News
Interpreter provides needed service for the deaf
September 13, 2008 - The Clarion Herald
By Christine Bordelon
For the past two hurricanes – Katrina and Gustav – Shari Bernius has been the television voice for the hearing impaired in New Orleans.
As administrator for the Deaf Action Center of Greater New Orleans, a collaboration of Catholic Charities New Orleans and United Way, Bernius is on standby 24 hours a day for interpretations.
During Hurricane Katrina that meant a week’s worth of press conferences prior to the storm’s landfall, and six months of press conferences, following Mayor Ray Nagin throughout the state during the recovery.
“I lost everything in Chalmette and was living in Baton Rouge and had to commute daily to do all the meetings,” Bernius said.
This time around, Bernius found better collaboration and readiness between the parishes, something she attributes to the lessons learned after Hurricane Katrina.
The Deaf Action Center and other agencies working with the disabled comprise the City of New Orleans Mayor’s Advisory Council for Citizens with Disabilities and Jefferson Parish’s Office for Citizens with Disabilities.
Bernius said these boards made a concerted effort after Katrina to better inform government entities how best to assist the disabled community during disasters.
This disability training led to the Deaf Action Center producing a hurricane preparation video with City Hall in June 2008 that’s linked on the city’s Web site and will soon be on Catholic Charities New Orleans Web site.
“We seemed to be better prepared,” Bernius said. “I was more confident the deaf were getting the information. Even though we were interpreting for Katrina, I felt like the people weren’t getting the information. We didn’t know where they were.”
She also compiled more thorough contact information on her clients, and extended her signing outside of Orleans and Jefferson parishes this storm due to meeting Craig Tafaro, president of St. Bernard Parish, at a joint parish press conference.
“This hurricane was the first time I did St. Bernard,” she said.
In between press conferences during Gustav, Bernius and co-worker Jennifer Guerrieri also provided interpretations during the third anniversary Katrina event at the Charity Hospital’s cemetery where remaining unidentified bodies from Hurricane Katrina were laid to rest.
Sign language is Bernius’ first language, having two deaf parents. She has worked for 18 years with Catholic Charities, first as an interpreter coordinator then as the Deaf Action Center’s administrator.
She said the center provides invaluable services: interpreters, telephone equipment, case management and referrals for the estimated 500 hearing-impaired individuals living in New Orleans.
Bernius smiled when she mentioned how it’s not always easy to convey words using sign language. During Gustav, some phrases such as “storm basins” had to be acted rather than signed.
“Deaf people are visual, so describing the picture of what people need to do is important,” Bernius said.
While her job has been exacerbated since Katrina with staff reduced from seven to three and fewer interpreters in the city, she trudges on, knowing the difference she makes in peoples’ lives.
“I look at this as love, not as a job,” She said. “It’s easier to keep going that way. It’s a valuable service that not everybody can go out and do. If it’s not you, it’s nobody helping the deaf community communicate.”
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