National Nurses United

plenty of debris from felled trees and torn street signs, to stray mat- tresses and broken mailboxes. They met a man who was living in his car in the driveway because the roof of his house had caved in. "When we knocked on doors, people apprehensively answered the door," recalled Soldo-Jones, who has been on several previous RNRN deployments, including Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Grand Bahama for Hurricane Dorian in 2019. "Once they found out that we were nurses and doctors, they would throw the door open, come outside and want to talk." "Nobody comes to these areas," said Soldo-Jones. "People would often say, 'Are you FEMA? You're the first people who have been here. I thought we were forgotten.'" The nurses also gave the hurricane survi- vors information on resources, and things you need to repair your house. They let people know that they could access the internet at Boys & Girls Club, which had a generator. "We were an all-encompassing public health, public safety resource type of team," said Soldo-Jones. "We were teaching them about mold prevention, how to avoid food-borne diseases, about safety and water. We were providing preventative care and problem-solving." "We were doing triage, basic nursing, and wound care," said Tammi Bachecki, a trauma ICU nurse at Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center in Vacaville, Ca. "We saw a lot of dangerous cuts and wounds that were infected or on the way to being infected that we were able to prevent from becoming major infections." Patients with any serious injuries or critical medical conditions were referred to the local emergency room or one of the Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, known as DMATs, which provide emer- gency medical care and are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "We had at least two referrals every day to a DMAT or local ER," said Gail Yost, a retired pediatric RN from California. "That's where we sent people if they needed an X-ray, had a severe infection, severe swelling, or something we could not treat." The RNRN team worked in Port Charlotte for less than a week before the state of Florida asked International Medical Corps to relocate the MMU to Englewood, where the Red Cross had set up a shelter for displaced people in a spacious recreational center. Once there, the nurses' daily routine began with setting up tents, tables, paperwork, and equipment in the morning and then taking on their assignment for the day: check-in, triage, treatment, or rounding to give breaks or assist wherever needed. As the RNRN team lead, Soldo-Jones handled the daily logistics of staffing and delegating responsibilities, conducting a recap and debrief at the end of each day with the team, a daily brief with RNRN, and ensuring the team's health and safety, especially impor- tant when the weather conditions were uncomfortably warm and humid. They spent the remainder of their time in Englewood, as did the second team of nurses that arrived on Oct. 17. "A couple of days it was so hot, we weren't sweating anymore," said Bachecki, who also participated in RNRN deployments in the aftermath of Hurricanes Rita (2017), Michael (2018), and Dorian (2019). "Venessa went out and bought electrolyte pills to help us stay hydrated." In Englewood, many people staying in the shelter had lost their homes. That's also where the nurses met people from Port Char- lotte, which is 22 miles east of Englewood. Many just needed O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 23 Pieces Above, left to right: Tarps and other supplies available at the clinic for Hurricane Ian survivors in Florida; The aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Florida; Venessa Soldo-Jones, RN (seated) and Tammi Bachecki, RN with a patient at the mobile medical unit in Florida; RNRN team in Florida for Hurricane Ian deploy- ment in October 2022: RNs Gail Yost (left), Amy Tidd, Tammi Bachecki, and Venessa Soldo-Jones

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