A Flood of Emotions
by Mary Bannan
I
thought I’d seen it all.
As a congenital heart surgery nurse for MCG Health System, I have a front-row view of the fragility of life. And as training officer for the MCG-sponsored Georgia 4 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, I’m no stranger to catastrophes. I’ve been at ground zero of natural disasters and the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
But nothing could have prepared me for Hurricane Katrina. The only word that comes to mind is ‘devastating.’
I traveled to New Orleans with Team Commander Jane Williams, a nurse, and team members Jeff Orledge, an MCG physician, and Benje Thompson and Ryan Goodson, both emergency medical technicians. We arrived in the New Orleans area on Aug. 28, the day after the hurricane made landfall.
We were assigned to the airport, which served as a field hospital for the entire area, where we triaged and treated medically needy evacuees.
It was awe-inspiring and frightening. I felt overwhelmed that we couldn’t do enough for people. We had supplies and equipment, but the volume of patients was staggering. We saw severe rashes and beginning infections on feet and legs, a sad consequence of people fleeing their homes in pajamas without shoes. Critically ill patients came in with heat stroke and dehydration.
Some had been exposed to contaminated floodwater. They were frightened, dirty and psychologically fragile. Most had fled without their medications. Blood sugars and blood pressures were high.
A
25-year-old man showed up in the throes of a severe asthma attack. We tried
calming him by talking to him. He told an amazing story of escaping his home
by floating out in his bathtub. As he floated down the streets of New
Orleans, he came across a baby floating in a cooler and rescued the child.
He spent a few days in the Convention Center and grew so depressed with the
conditions that he contemplated suicide.
His story was so touching and he was such an amazing person that I wanted to stay in touch with him. He sent me an e-mail just the other day. He is safe and sound in Arkansas and has already found a job. He is starting his life over.
Also fresh on my mind are the husband-and-wife Russian exchange students. The wife had interferon for her multiple sclerosis, but both were frantic because they had been without ice for the medication for several days. Fortunately, we had ice at the airport and were able to help them.
I am profoundly grateful to those who aided in our efforts, including my colleagues at MCG Health System who supported my participation.
The resounding lesson for me: Be grateful for what you have. Your way of life, or your life itself, could be snatched away in an instant.
| Medical College of Georgia Today welcomes submissions to the Reflections column of the magazine. Typed essays (approx. 750 words long) reflecting a professional or personal experience of a member of the MCG community should be submitted to: Christine Hurley Deriso, Editor, Medical College of Georgia, FI-1040, Augusta, GA 30912, (706) 721-2124 (phone), (706) 721-6397 (fax), cderiso@mcg.edu (e-mail). |