![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/chicago-shelter-takes-haitians-300x122.jpg\" "\\"chicago-shelter-takes-haitians\\"")
The refugees arrived on two CTA buses, Mulroe said. Firefighters from a nearby fire station helped them move them and their meager belongings inside.<\/p>\nThe refugees arrived on two CTA buses, Mulroe said. Firefighters from a nearby fire station helped them move them and their meager belongings inside.<\/p>\n
Despite the arduous process of\u00a0having workers from the American Red Cross and other agencies at O’Hare assess their medical and travel needs, the refugees “were very patient,” Mulroe said. <\/span><\/p>\n He also said the Red Cross provided interpreters for them, many of whom speak French and Creole.<\/p>\n “You could tell they were tired…When [the processing] was wrapping up and they were getting ready to move, they said ‘thank you,’” Mulroe said. “They were glad to be safe.”<\/p>\n He said the foundation, which has just under 400 beds at its Roosevelt Road location, will provide the refugees with beds, showers and food. At some point, Mulroe said, various city, state and federal agencies will help find the refugees places for extended stays.<\/p>\n He couldn’t say how long the refugees would remain at the shelter. But another official at the foundation said a good portion of the refugees may eventually be flown to\u00a0the Miami area to be with relatives. About a dozen were to fly today to New York.<\/p>\n “This was a Herculean effort just to get them here,” Mulroe said, adding that grief counselors will be made available to them later today.<\/p>\n The United Airlines flight that brought them to Chicago landed about 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n Earlier in the day, the same plane dropped off several dozen relief workers and supplies in the earthquake-ravenged country.On arrival, they were greeted by Red Cross volunteers with wool blankets. McDonalds employees handed out Happy Meals to the kids, and bottled water, cookies and “apple” dippers to adults.<\/p>\n The group walked into a roped-off area out of the airport to a nearby Hilton hotel, where they were meeting with officials and care workers. Most of the survivors did not speak with reporters.<\/p>\n Gov. Pat Quinn was at the airport to greet them.<\/p>\n “We want to make sure that everyone who comes from Haiti feels at home and welcome,” said Quinn. “We want to extend our hearts to everyone in Haiti.”<\/p>\n Quoting a French expression, Quinn then said, “It means we shall go to the end, and that’s what the people of Illinois will do for the people of Haiti.”<\/p>\n One of the survivors, Anastazie Abraham, told reporters that she was ecstatic to be in Chicago after spending the last week sleeping in a Haitian field. Abraham, a U.S. citizen, was visiting her husband in Haiti when the earthquake hit.<\/p>\n After hearing that an airline was flying American citizens home, she had her husband take her to the airport. Asked what her immediate plans were, Abraham said a “good meal and a nice shower, and then have a nice little drink and then go to bed.”<\/p>\n She planned to return to her home in New York Thursday.<\/p>\n Ernest Lebrun, who traveled with his 14-year-old daughter on the plane to Chicago, said he was happy to be out of Haiti.<\/p>\n Lebrun said that he has dual citizenship, and had been running a hotel in Haiti when the earthquake hit. He said he did not think he would go back to Haiti any time soon.<\/p>\n “I’m very scared about Haiti now,” he said.<\/p>\n Rosemene Charlesarlet, 82, said that she was visiting a cousin in Haiti.<\/p>\n “It makes me so sick,” said Charlesarlet, who said she was headed to New York Thursday. “It’s like I have something in my leg each day” from the earth shaking.<\/p>\n Anne Clara Desrosier said that she lost five cousins in the quake. She was also headed to New York to stay with family.<\/p>\n “No one can help,” said Desrosier, her eyes welling with tears. “Too many people have died.”<\/p>\n The captain of Wednesday night’s flight, Terry Doran, who volunteered to make the trip, said the survivors were generally in good spirits during the flight.<\/p>\n But Doran described a moment as the survivors left the plane when an elderly passenger, realizing that her entire family had been killed in the 7.0 magnitude quake, fell back into her seat when the cold night air hit her face.<\/p>\n “I don’t know what she is going to do,” Doran said.<\/p>\n The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said it will help with any needed care for children who arrived, but the children will not officially be placed in state custody, spokesman Kendall Marlowe said.<\/p>\n The Red Cross and its volunteers will provide all the Haitian evacuees with help including medical care, translation services, computer and phone access and support reconnecting with their families, according to a release from the Red Cross.<\/p>\n The United plane that left Chicago for Haiti Wednesday morning carried 15,000 pounds of water donated by Walgreens, nearly 400 tents from Feed the Children and communications equipment from Airline Ambassadors.<\/p>\n United plans up to 30 more relief flights to Haiti.<\/p>\n Several charter flights have arrived in the U.S. in the last 36 hours to bring in children along with adults who need medical care.<\/p>\n –<\/em>Oscar Avila<\/em><\/a>, Cynthia Dizikes<\/a><\/em> and Jeremy Gorner<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Photo: Red Cross volunteer and UIC Psychotherapist Sharon Steckler (right) welcomes young passengers arriving from Haiti at O’Hare on Wednesday. (Tribune \/ Nuccio DiNuzzo)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Read the original article from Tribune News Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n The refugees arrived on two CTA buses, Mulroe said. Firefighters from a nearby fire station helped them move them and their meager belongings inside. Despite the arduous process of\u00a0having workers from the American Red Cross and other agencies at O’Hare assess their medical and travel needs, the refugees “were very patient,” Mulroe said. He also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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