National Nurses United

M any RNs watching the brutal devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, then the second wave when New Orleans flooded, the obvious human health needs beck- oned. Nurses sought to put their skills to use along the Gulf Coast, but many were frustrated in their attempts to contact national disaster relief organizations, such as the American Red Cross. While evacuees of Hurricane Katri- na struggled and waited for an official re- sponse or some measure of help, the California Nurses Association acted quickly. Rather than waiting to be asked to assist, CNA communicated directly with public health officials and hospitals and arranged for volunteer RNs to work where the need was greatest. CNA and its national arm, the National Nurse Organizing Com- mittee (NNOC), sounded a call with a national email alert and through a posting on its Web site. In short order, more than 1,400 RNs across the nation volunteered, many of them NNOC members from Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and other states. CNA requested donations earmarked for disaster relief be sent to its California Nurses Foundation, which would fund the volunteer RN deployment. Donations came along with volun- teers. By Tuesday, Sept. 6, CNA had dis- patched the first group of nurses—21 of them—to Mississippi to aid victims. Within that week, CNA/NNOC sent nurses to the Houston Astrodome, to towns in Mississippi and, the next week, to Baton Rouge, La., which absorbed an influx of New Orleans evacuees. By Sept. 30, more than 200 RNs sponsored by the California Nurses Foundation were in the affected regions. Lisa Yim, a telemetry nurse at Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., was deployed to a hospital in Baton Rouge. "I was angry with the federal government, but also the local and state governments for not doing anything," Yim said. "Usu- ally these things happen to the homeless and poor, and these things aren't talked about. I wanted to do my part to help these people, because the government had failed them so completely." Upon arrival, RNs often encountered evacuees who, with lit- tle-to-no healthcare for years, presented serious health problems that pre-dated the hurricane. "Many of these patients have never seen anyone for their med- ical needs," says an RN working in Baton Rouge. "Their health care was not good even before they got here. We are seeing peo- ple who have never even had an eye exam." The plight of the underserved was apparent to RNs in the Houston Astrodome, sent by CNA on Sept. 7. "We are seeing people from very poor backgrounds. We are seeing cases of undiagnosed and untreated diabetes," said Christie Delamos, RN. "This event proves that we need a uni- versal health plan for all Americans." The findings of a recent survey of evacuees in the Houston area by the Kaiser Permanente Family Foundation, the Harvard School of Public Health and The Washington Post, back up the nurse's observations. Fifty-two percent of evacuees surveyed had no health insurance coverage at the time of the hurricane, and 41 percent reported chronic health conditions such as heart dis- ease, hypertension, diabetes and asthma. For Sojourner Sherman, an RN in the Kaiser Walnut Creek, Calif., emergency room who was sent to Baton Rouge hospital, the journey was professional and personal. "I have family in Arkansas and I know the poverty they live in, so I wanted to help this community," said Sherman. "I've had an incredible experience here. I've talked to so many evacuees. An elderly man and woman were in the Superdome. The man hurt himself, and that's the only way he was evacuated from a bad sit- uation. He had to get hurt to get saved." Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of CNA, summed up the frustrations and outrage of many: "The Gulf Coast is ground zero for all that is wrong with our health care system. There is no safety net and even health care employees lost their health benefits when their hospitals were forced to close. Our nurses are giving care to people who've gone without care for much of their lives. In a civilized society, not caring for our own is a disgrace and an embarrassment for us to the rest of the world." CNA/NNOC nurses worked in every capacity, from the mundane to the miraculous. Neonatal RN Ko- rtney Hyrchuk helped save a baby's life at the Astrodome when she performed nasopharyngeal suctions to get the baby breath- ing. Hyrchuk, a professionally trained opera singer, also sang at the wedding of an evacuee couple in the Astrodome. Other RNs helped to care for the children of hospital workers, as childcare facilities were destroyed, working 12-hour shifts and attending up to 70 children just to keep the hospital running. Still others worked in tetanus clinics giving up to 1,200 shots a day. In what one RN described as their "most important role," nurs- es simply listened as evacuees, who had received minimal men- tal health attention, told harrowing stories. Many from New Orleans were trapped in their attics while the water rose, without food and water. Delemos described the plight of one woman whose brother drowned next to her in the attic while they waited for days to be rescued. Hundreds of these stories were told to CNA and NNOC nurses in hurricane-ravaged areas. CNA/NNOC continues to send RNs, usually for 10-day stints, to aid in the recovery. C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E O C T O B E R 2 0 0 5 17 CNA and NNOC place RNs in the path of patients. B Y E R I N F I T Z G E R A L D

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