Liz Treston: Survivor on a Mission

As Superstorm Sandy churned toward the beach beside her Long Island home, Liz Treston went outside to look around. It was the first high tide, and the wind was strong, but Treston, who lives with a C6 complete spinal cord injury, could easily move around in her power wheelchair.  

“I thought, ‘Ok, this is nothing,’” she says. “’We can still walk around. We’re good.’”

Like most of her neighbors, Treston had decided not to evacuate despite the call to do so from local officials. A year earlier, they’d left home for Hurricane Irene only to return to minimal damage. They assumed that Sandy – not even classified as a hurricane at that point – would be the same. But that night, as winds rocked the house and water rushed through the basement door, Treston realized her mistake. She grabbed a pen and wrote her Social Security number on her arm, just in case.

Treston survived – but her life was upended. Over the next few chaotic weeks, she struggled to find a place to stay and to gather the supplies she needed for daily life, including medication and catheters.  Her new adaptive van was destroyed, forcing her at one point to power her wheelchair along a busy road with her service dog beside her.

“If you’re not prepared, you have to be a survivor and a MacGyver at the same time,” she said. “But why go through all that anxiety and stress if you don’t have to?”

Treston soon became a fierce advocate for emergency preparedness. She helped found the Long Beach Community Organizations Active in Disasters and eventually was elected to the Long Beach, N.Y. City Council, where she continues to spotlight the need for accessible services and inclusion in emergency planning efforts.