Facilities Services team members celebrated a monumental win last week when they received news that their petition for Disaster Assistance following the massive 2022 storms had been successfully approved by FEMA.
From December of 2022 to April of 2023, a storm swept through California and parts of Nevada. Heavy rainfall and atmospheric rivers wreaked havoc, prompting both Governor Gavin Newsom and then President Joe Biden to declare a State of Emergency.
These storms hit UCSF’s Parnassus Heights Campus particularly hard, resulting in damages upwards of $1.8 million and hundreds of work orders requiring immediate attention.
The 2022-23 storm caused landslides and fallen trees at Parnassus Heights campus.
Facilities Services swiftly jumped into action, repairing leaking roofs and cracked windows, clearing landslide debris and fallen trees. However, while the buildings were repaired and streets cleared, the financial toll of the emergency remained.
Facilities Services team members decided to apply for Disaster Assistance through FEMA, an endeavor that would take nearly three years, multiple dedicated teams, and countless hours spent poring over work orders.
Facilities Financial Analyst Eric Lo worked closely on the project, helping to create processes to identify and track work orders related to the disaster and ensure that all categories got approved.
“In the beginning, when we got the first check, it was really exciting. Every time we get [another approval], you see the emails, and it’s like a lot of exclamations like, 'Yeah, we got it finally!'”
Lo also wanted to thank his manager, Assistant Director of Business Operations Support Center Jaycee De Guzman Miralles, for the opportunity.
"There’s a lot of excitement, and it's satisfying to see it get all finally obligated. And now we're just here waiting for the checks," Lo said.
Facilities Services Grounds team works diligently to clear debris and install barricades to prevent flooding.
Senior Director General Services at Facilities Services, Billy Reynoso, provided a statement in gratitude for the team’s efforts:
"I wanted to share how deeply appreciative I am of our Facilities Services (FS) team members Morgan Vaisset-Favel and Eric Lo, Eli Dominguez of Supply Chain Management, Angela Lucien of Risk Management, and consultants Nik Simonson and Taylor Almendarez, who worked diligently through what was a very complicated and tedious process. Despite the challenges, their persistence was instrumental in our financial recovery efforts following the 2023 Atmospheric River event.
Through their work, we were able to recover approximately $700,000 in FEMA support for the disaster emergency response that took place between January and April. Additionally, this process gave us the opportunity to balance over $1 million in Risk claims. Since not all aspects of our response were covered by Risk, FEMA's support was critical in bridging those gaps and ensuring we were financially supported where Risk coverage fell short.
This success reflects the team's resilience and commitment, and I couldn’t be more proud."