Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/447716
C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 11 Three of us from CNA are here at South Cameron Hospital, a very small hospital right on the Gulf Coast. We were asked if we would be willing to come here to help out the chief nurse who has been on for 21 days. After we ar- rived, he still has not taken a day off, but has returned to his nor- mal ER work. He almost cried when we told him we would do the 12-hour shifts and cover both units around the clock until the evacuees are all placed. We have some diabetics and some not well-controlled hyper- tensive patients—some previously unidentified that I found tonight when I was checking BPs and they asked me to check theirs. Yikes!!! Everyone has a story to tell. All have either lost their homes or don't know what condition their homes are in which is almost worse because they don't know if they will have a place to return to or not. At least the ones whose homes were destroyed know that they have to move on. A lucky few know that their homes are not badly damaged and they will be able to return and start repairs when they are allowed back in. One woman, when I went in to check her blood pressure, she just started talking and couldn't stop. We talked for about an hour and I just happened to look over at her table and saw a poem she had written on a pad. I asked if I could read it and she handed it to me. Here it is with her permission: Looking over the muddy waters That we oh so hate to dread We see little children Tiny and newborn babies A generation left scared and scarce After Katrina made her pathway How could this have happened It's not anyone's fault Count your blessings if you made it through After all, there's nothing more we can do Survivors we are, recused we will be If only one could have had a seat next to me. —Pam Kelly It might help to know that she was rescued by boat after fran- tically making phone calls for nearly 24 hours to various official agencies. She saw children trudging through water trying to keep up with parents, or some were alone. She was sent to the Su- perdome, after first being told that she would have to find her own way there while carrying an oxygen concentrator which re- quires electricity (but she doesn't have a battery backup). When she arrived there, it was full and she was then sent to a hospital in Baton Rouge, but they refused to take her luggage with her so she has nothing, except her life, for which she is very grateful. —Bonnie Martin, NP Kaiser Permanente, Stockton Here at the special needs shelter in Lake Charles more displaced Orleanians have arrived. Most of them come from the 9th Ward, one of the poorest areas, unable to leave under their own steam because of lack of personal transportation or preexistent illness. The RN volunteers have been making trips after their shift to K-Mart, often for little things that can't be found in the store of donations that are stacked along the side of the shelter. Two nights ago, they went looking for something special for an elderly widow of many years. Her life and joy were her two faithful dogs and mama cat, as she called her. She was unable to save them as the rushing waters engulfed her home, and they drowned before her. She is deeply grieved by their tragic loss. CNA RNs Vicky and Victoria came back from K-Mart with soft toys that now have a place on her cot just as her pets had done for many years. This is what I've seen RNs doing: good, solid nursing care. Here we are mobilizing elderly people, assisting them with the daily living needs they cannot do for themselves. It's about en- abling them to find some of their dignity and self-respect, even as they share their "bedroom" with 50-plus people in a college sports hall. —John Pickles, RN CNA staffer and Katrina field coordinator This happened on the first day I was here at Common Ground. We always start out asking patients, "Tell me about your past six weeks." The Monday the storm hit, this woman and her family were staying at a hotel with her 15-year-old daughter who had just had open-heart surgery and was coming back to Tulane University Hospital for a checkup. The storm came, and they felt safe there. Then the flooding began and the mother and daughter had to separate from the grandma, son, and husband. The moth- er and daughter were in water up to their necks, and her daugh- ter's scar was not healed yet. There were dozens of huge-wheeled vehicles going by that were empty, and they'd wave for help, but they didn't stop. All these people were struggling to walk through this water. But the woman said she knew she was strong and they were going to make it, because she managed to get out of that water even though she didn't know how to swim. "None of us knew how to swim," she said. Then just as she finishes telling me this story of how they got out, I look down at the intake form, and you know, the patient is just supposed to fill in the name and address part and the medical staff fill in the rest and make notes. Well, in the section for us to write what plan we have for the patient going for- ward, she had written in huge, bold letters, "TO SURVIVE." —Anne Mullé, FNP Recent UCSF FNP graduate