'God is always with me'

CRESTVIEW — Two Panama City residents displaced from Hurricane Michael reside at the Crestview Manor three weeks after the storm created a path of destruction through the Florida Panhandle.

Sitting in the activity room at the assisted living facility, Teresita Deason and Angela Littey have nothing but the clothes on their back, donations from the community in their room, and smiles on their faces.

Deason and Littey suffer from terminal cancer and remain under the care of Emerald Coast Hospice. Both women said they’re blessed.

“I am so secure, and I am so thankful and blessed,” Littey said. “…I am so grateful because other people did reach out helping everybody.”

“God is always with me, and I’m so close to Him so I don’t worry,” Deason said. “…This is the first time I’ve been in this place, and I cannot say anything more. Everything you need is here, and it’s just like your own home. I feel like I’m home.”

While wiping the tears from her eyes, Crestview Manor’s director, Becky Brice-Nash said she was thankful to get to know Deason and Littey.

“When they came here, they blessed us,” Brice-Nash said.

Deason and Littey lived two separate stories prior to the storm. They had never met, but both women found comfort in their similarities.

“As soon as (Deason) walked in, it started just like that,” Littey said.

Now sharing a room in Crestview, Littey was 15 minutes away from Deason the day of the storm. Littey lived on the 12th floor of St. Andrews Towers, which suffered maximum damage. Littey lost everything in her apartment, and many of the tower’s residents remain homeless.

Around 7 a.m. the day of the storm, Littey was evacuated to one of the three main shelters.

Littey recalls having about 300 people in the high school gymnasium, where she stayed during the storm.

“The whole gymnasium was quiet…All of the sudden there was grumbling at the door and sounded like a train was coming through,” Littey said.

The cafeteria was filled with about nine hospice patients and two nurses, but Littey said she remained with the general population in the gym.

“I stayed there a week and a half,” Littey said. “I slept on a mat on the floor before they got in cots for everybody.”

Littey only spoke positively about her experience at the shelter.

“Everybody was nice,” Littey said. “It was like a calling…We did the best we could.”

After a week and a half at the shelter, the director from St. Andrews Tower told the residents they would be leaving for Pensacola. Littey stayed over night at the Clarion Inn in Pensacola and left at about 10 a.m. the next morning.

“Hospice found out where I was finally again,” Littey said. “I was roughin’ it.”

From Pensacola, Littey was brought to the Crestview Manor. Two hours later, she met her new roommate — Deason.

Deason has lived in Florida for more than 50 years. She has been through hurricanes before, but she didn’t realize the magnitude of Hurricane Michael until it hit.

Deason rode out the storm in her apartment.

“I was watching from the window, and then something hit the window where I’m watching,” Deason said. “It scared me to death. I ran to my bedroom, grabbed a pillow, and went to the bathtub in my bathroom. I stayed there for 30 minutes.”

After the storm passed, Deason lost electricity in her apartment.

“It was difficult for me to stay in my apartment without electricity and water,” Deason said.

Days after the storm, Deason suffered from an attack that left her unable to breathe. The ambulance arrived and rushed her to Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.

Four hours after arriving, the ambulance transported Deason to the Tallahassee Medical Center because she couldn’t stay over night in Panama City. The next day, Deason was bused from Tallahassee back to Panama City and placed in a shelter where she celebrated her 77th birthday.

“It was just like I’m a football,” Deason said. “I’ve been thrown around.”

Deason’s social worker located her at the shelter and arranged for her to stay at the Crestview Manor where she’s been since Oct. 24. Although Deason is ready to go home, her apartment complex remains condemned.

Neither Littey nor Deason have a timeframe for when they will go back to Panama City, but they plan on staying in contact after they return home.

“Oh, I’m going to bug her,” Deason said.

Brice-Nash said the Crestview Manor continues to get calls about people who are displaced and seek refuge.