HURRICANE KATRINA RN Relief Weblog

A belated thank you for the opportunity to help out in our homeland

Kathy Tumason, RNC
San Jose

I am remiss in not sending this note sooner! It has been on my list and on my mind since the beginning of November. This thank you has also been in my heart since I left for Louisiana.

It meant a great deal to me and my family that I was helping after the devastating Katrina in our homeland. I appreciate the financial support in travel from CNA and the personnel support during my 10 days at Earl K. Long in the NICU. I believe it was, and is, a great way to utilize funds. Thank you for that opportunity. Everyone I met and worked with there were wonderful, giving nurses.

I will write about my experience someday, but in the meantime I wanted you to know that it was a humbling (and exhausting!) experience! I have many pictures which I have shared with others and would be happy to share with you also. I have some favorites too! Thanks to you and CNA for making it possible.

Just Back from Gulfport-the Free Clinic Thrives and the Need for Nurses Remains

Sheri Stern, RN
Baltimore

Just a note of appreciation for all the incredibly coordinated and effective work CNA has done, (and paying airfare!)-not just for my experience in Gulfport, but for all nurses you've helped deploy south for Katrina relief efforts.

If any nurses you know are "on the fence" about going, feel free to offer my email. I'd be glad to share with them. Your organization and its members are both compassionate and efficient at getting the job done. And you personally performed miracles from across the miles to make it happen.
      
The experience was incredible and the need continues in Gulfport (and likely elsewhere). I've organized OTC med drives back here in Baltimore to send cough and cold preps, OTC ointments, and even some x-mas toys for the clinic/church to distribute. I'm so glad and proud, to be an American and a registered nurse who became part of the solution to an American disaster. Thank you for the opportunity to serve, and be a part of history.
      

Turning 40 as a (return) CNA volunteer in New Orleans

By Diane Foxen, RN, San Jose

Remember when we left Earl k. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge and after seeing the devastation and deadness of the hurricane areas we felt like we were leaving somthing undone and/or behind? Well I'm glad I came back. It has done my heart good to see the NOLA coming alive.

I have been working the clinic at the Covenent House in the French Quarter. Alot of the peolpe that come in have moved back to NOLA and lost there insurance and/or care at the Charity Hospital. They need medical refills or have become ill. They have no where else to turn for medical care. The stories they tell of surviving and rebuilding are heart wrenching. One man working at the Shereton where FEMA has us at lost his brother in the flood, But every morning he has a smile on his face. He said he misses his brother but he thanks God he is alive and has a job.

Another elderly man at the clinic I hugged and cried with. His home of 50 years is ruined and he said being 86 he doesn't think he will be arond long enough to see his home or neighborhood rebuilt. I can't think of a better place I could have chosen to spend my 40th b-day. The blues and jazz clubs are well-----  NOLA. The food is great. We usually eat breakafast at the FEMA compound and have tried new places for dinner each night. I visited the ninth ward today and got pictures of people cleaning up and rebuilding. That's my picture theme this trip--"The rebuilding of NOLA". I know it will take years to clean up but at least it I saw it starting.

Back from Baton Rouge-Proud to be CNA

I returned home from Baton Rouge last evening.  I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed being able to help.  The people of Baton Rouge, both the staff and the clients were extremely friendly and appreciative of our efforts to assist them.  I have never been so proud to be counted among the numbers of our California Nurses. 

I felt it was an honor to be able to help to the best of my abilities.  I couldn't afford to send money, but I was able to get in there, scrub up and get my hands dirty. I really felt like I made a difference in people's lives.  There arent many times in our careers that we are able to really do that.  MAKE A DIFFERENCE. 

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to help people in my own country.  Now, thanks to Wilma,if there was a way we could get into the Miami area to be of assistance, I'd be there in a heart beat...I understand they are setting up makeshift ER's in parking lots...

Daniel Walker, RN
San Joaquin General Hospital RN
Stockton, California

My trips to Louisiana, and Mississippi-Same Tragedy, Different Experiences

Lake Charles, Louisiana

I have been to the South twice now as part of CNA's relief efforts. My first trip was to Lake Charles, Louisiana to volunteer at a shelter.  Most of the people there were from the 9th ward. I went a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina first hit and when I went the emotions behind the stories I heard were like they just happened yesterday. 

There was no actual visual damage to see from Katrina where I was,the illnesses were simple, but the need was great.  We did basic nursing (i.e. vitals, medication administration, & coordination of dialysis). We took turns doing 12 hour shifts, because the shelter was set up as a make shift hospital. It amazed me how much these people just wanted to talk about their experiences.  I have never shed so many tears than I did during those 10 days 
I have also never been told 'thank you' as much in my nursing career than I did during those 10 days.   When I decided to go the South to aid in Hurricane Katrina relief, I never thought I would have to evacuate myself from the wrath of Rita.  We (nursing and National Guard) helped organize all the people in the shelters to relocate them to a shelter in Shreveport, LA.  I felt such sorrow for all the folks that finally were starting to feel safe in their environment and had to gather their belongings and move just that much farther from what they once considered their homes in New Orleans.  The sadness in the caravan buses could be felt by everyone.  The posibility that Rita could destroy New Orleans even more, was on everyone's mind. 

After Rita hit, looking at the pictures from the destruction in Lake Charles was so sad to me.  The reality that people lived in these places, their families were there, their homes, and their lives hit me even harder after the wrath of Rita.  The whole thing was so real, it is hard for me to put into words the sadness I felt.  But people remained strong- "we will get through this, things could be worse."

Gulfport, Mississippi

After my experience in Louisiana, I felt compelled to return. I was sent to an acute care clinic in Gulfport, MS, with a few friends from work.  Wow, now the destruction of Katrina really hit home.  Homes were no longer there, debris everywhere, fallen trees, boats/cars thrown in all different directions, it was surreal to stand in the middle and look around in a 360 degree angle.  I just stood there silent.  This kind of destruction will take at least 10 years to resolve. We cannot forget after the news stops playing their story. 
Healthcare will be an issue for a long time. Everyone who worked in the casinos and businesses are losing their insurance by the first of the year.  What will they do then?  People were consistently coming to the clinic with URI secondary to mold and just the air itself.  We saw an average of 130 people a day.  One day we saw 95 in 2.5 hours.  We were working with 2-4 doctors/NP's, one pharm tech, and 3-5 nurses.  The clinc was set up in 2 mobile units.  We saw patients that needed anything from absess drainage, to sutures, to URI, to UTI's. How will they get the medical aid they need?

I commend CNA for everything they have done to help Texas, LA, and MS. 
I can honestly say I am proud to be part of this organization.  As I drove through these states I kept seeing a common billboard which I believe to be a true representation of the mentality in the South..."Together we will rebuild."

Laura Aiello RN

Kaiser Permanente

Keeping the Family Together-My Baton Rouge Story

  By Toni Gardner, RN Martinez

I got home about 1:30 in the morning on a Monday night  and was back at work on Tues. morning. I got off the plane in Oakland and caught the East Bay Connection to Martinez. I cried the whole time. I think I was just grieving in general for those who are suffering from these hurricanes, the lack of organization, the feelings of having not done enough, and the relief to be home. The next morning at work a co-worker asked me about the trip and I immediately started to cry again.

It took me a few days to integrate my life here in California with my experiences there in Louisiana. I can understand now what it's like for soldiers to come back from the war and attempt to integrate back into society as if nothing ever happened.

I know you asked for a story and I have one ( if not many). A couple of times I took care of this young African-American man (26yrs) with a gun shoot wound. He was in isolation due to VRE and C-diff. His Mother stayed in the room with him, helped change his sheets, wiped his backside(he couldn't turn due to the nature of his wound) and generally took care of him. At one point I asked her the history of why they were there.

She began with telling me that about two years ago her husband of 22 years was driving home from work one night in New Orleans and his car broke down. He pulled over to the side of the freeway to check it out. A speeding motorist came by, hit him, and sped off. He died at the scene. Then two months before Katrina hit her son, the 26 yr old, was walking out of the gate at their house with his little son and nephew to go play basketball when he saw a drive-by shooter coming. He bent down to push the two little boys behind him and was shot himself. The bullet entered his abdomen, traveled down his thigh, and exited from his calf. He was placed in the hospital in New Orleans.

The police had been gathering evidence as to who the shooter was when Katrina hit. All evidence was lost, they will never know who it was, their house was lost, and the young man had to be transferred to Baton Rouge where they told him he would probably have to have his leg amputated at the hip. They trying to reduce the infection and promote the healing to save as much of his leg as possible. This Mother was so proud. She has five children and she said none of them had been into drugs or gangs and all of them had their high school diplomas. The rest of her children live in Houston and when her son’s leg had healed son after the amputation she was taking him to live with her other children in Texas.

She never complained about taking care of him everyday, sleeping on a little cramped cot, or all her losses. When I asked her how she was able to cope with all of the things that have happened to her in the last couple of years she just said she had a lot of faith and that was what got her through. Her son also seemed to cope rather well with the impending lose of his leg and privacy. He even at the end of the day thanked me for helping him and gave me a small smile. It was all I could do to not cry every time I looked at him.

Having two sons of my own I'm not sure if they or I could bear what this family has gone through with such courage and determination. Probably the hardest part was that this was not an isolated case. I will remember this Mother and her son always. Some people seem to get overloaded with tragedies. This family was an example. However, they didn't fall apart from it instead it seemed to make them stronger and more cohesive as a family. I felt it was an honor to take care of them.
Coming home has been difficult. I see patients and nurses complaining over little things and I get easily frustrated thinking about what others have had to deal with. I'm learning though that everything has its place and to just allow it to be.

Bonding at Earl K. Long with a 23 week old infant

Diane Foxen RN, Sunnyvale California

I've been called a hero. Told I have a good heart. Asked why I would go work long hours for no pay. This story tells it all.

While in Baton Rouge I worked at Earl K Long hospital in the NICU. I bonded with this little 23- weeker born 17 weeks to soon in New Orleans. His mom was evacuated to Texas and he had no one to hold him and love on him but us nurses. After what he had been through and survived he needed love. He was stranded in one of the hospitals that was last to be evacuated. The medical director tried with the help of a nurse to get him to two other hospitals hoping they were open, but not knowing for sure since they had no communications.

Picture this: Nurse paddling canoe, her passengers an M.D. hand ventilating this little baby now 7 weeks old and a mother cradling  her baby next to her skin to keep it warm.  She waded through 3-4 feet of water to get to her evacuated infant. The nurse paddles 1/2 mile to a hospital to find it was evacuated, than she paddles another 3/4 mile to another hospital to find they can't possibly take another patient. So off they are back to the starting point to wait for someone to rescue them. At night out on the parking deck where they evacuated to to be safe from the looters in the hospital they were shot at when they used their flashlights to check on patients. These humans who never left their post are the real heros.

This story was told to me by the nurses in the NICU at Earl K Long. They said  when the M.D. came to the Earl to find his patients.he saw this little survivor and broke down crying and said, That's my baby, He made it." Because of these heros I was able to give much needed care and love to this little survivor. I am proud to say two of my co-workers at Good Samaritan in San Jose NICU Lindy and Cathy followed in my footsteps and just returned home. What great people I work with.  You can make a difference, you just have to start somewhere and risk something.

Gratitude From The Parker Family

Three CNA nurses are "the glue" for a family loosing a loved one in Mississippi

This note of gratitude is sent especially to express the warmest thanks to all of you for all your thoughtfulness: The Parker family are very grateful for the excellent care Ms. Dorothy Parker received while she was at Stone County Hospital in Wiggins, MS, during hurricane Katrina and afterwards. Ms. Parker was dying due to congestive heart failure and renal failure.

Three of your nurses who volunteered to help us in Mississippi after “Katrina” cared for Ms. Parker until she died on 9/12/05. I do not know all of their full names and the hospital wouldn’t give me their addresses – but I wanted you to know that their professionalism and compassion was the glue that sustained our family during Ms. Parker’s illness.

Myhanh Nguyan, Becky and Lauren were wonderful – they went way beyond the call of duty to provide guidance and comfort to us and to Ms. Parker. I hope they know how much we appreciate their sacrifices and concerns. We wish love and Peace to all of you

– The Parker Family.

I left a piece of my heart back in the Gulf

Lynda Moss, RN writes of her experience in the Gulf.

A reunion would be nice.  I did leave a piece of my heart back in the Gulf. I shall be returning soon for another 2 weeks. The people of the Gulf have left a life-changing impression on me.

The lack of health care there in NORMAL conditions is an embarrasment to our nation. The confusion with agencies in time of the hurricane disasters is another national embarrasment. Coming back to "civilization" was a difficult transition for me, as I wanted to stay and continue to make a difference....and we all did make a huge difference.

Thank you to CNA for affording me the opportunity to serve my fellow human beings in their  time of need. I am changed forever.

PS. I shall try to compose a letter to the editor of my paper.

Nurses from West Coast descend to help in Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge Advocate staff writer ELLYN COUVILLION writes:

After the tsunami struck Asia in December, a California nurses' union was able to send only six nurses to Sri Lanka to help. The organization wasn't able to get through the maze of red tape with major relief organizations to be able to send more volunteers, said a union representative.

After Hurricane Katrina hit, the union took matters into its own hands.

"We started making calls all over New Orleans," said Liz Jacobs, who works in communications with the California Nurses Association. At the same time, the union began to e-mail both member and nonmember nurses in California with a call to help the hurricane victims.

"We had nearly 1,000 volunteer," said Jacobs.

Through telephoning, a CNA staff member found Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge, which was taking in patients evacuated from Charity and University hospitals in New Orleans. "Almost within a matter of days, our (patient) census had doubled," said AJ Varner, director of nursing for Earl K. Long. The hospital's staff nurses were picking up extra shifts after the hurricane, but, said Varner, "You can only go so far before productivity and alertness begin to suffer. You have to get relief."  "We call them our California angels," said Varner. (read more)