And a postscript

Medical Laboratory Observer, March, 2006

Editor's note: After 30 years as a med tech, Nancy Martin is retiring. Below is her story of surviving Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We wish her the best of luck in what should be an interesting and very active retirement, rebuilding her home.

Received Sept. 13, 2005: Here in Lake Charles, we were out of its [Hurricane Katrina's] path. However, our civic center, coliseum, and local university recreation center are full of refugees. Even our local state park is home to a few hundred. Many of our employees have worked at the shelters, and our hospital is performing lab testing for the "special needs" shelter at McNeese State University.

Our hospital was to receive about 30 to 40 patients from New Orleans Charity and/or the Medical Center of Louisiana (they are together downtown and both run by Louisiana State University). Four of the patients were on vents, and we heard that the nurses were bagging them by hand for the first few days until they could get a generator.

Later in the week, on Thursday or Friday, we spoke by phone to some of the personnel at Charity. Nurses were starting IVs on each other because of the heat and dehydration. They were into days three or four of their ordeal. We waited through the weekend, but we never received those patients because they could not get out. By the time the evacuation took place, those who survived were routed someplace else. This crisis has been heartbreaking and eye opening. It has brought out the best in most people, and the worst in only a few.

My mother is 81 years old and lives alone in a small south Mississippi town. Her neighbors' trees were uprooted, but her house was not harmed. She had no electricity or water until Thursday night after the storm. Every day, friends and neighbors shared food, and the local police brought her ice and water. She shared the food from her freezer with those who could cook on gas stoves or grills. The local grocery store opened its doors and gave away perishables to all who came in.

Everywhere you shop, you find people buying a little extra to take to the shelters. Restaurants have donated food; businesses have donated services; volunteers have donated their time. I have met people who have nothing but the clothes on their backs. Many wonder if they have a home to return to, and most know they do not. And they are genuinely astonished at the outpouring of kindness and help. They are also very, very grateful for everything they receive. Thanks for thinking of us--and we will all keep praying for the victims.

Updated Feb. 7, 2006: Hurricane Rita destroyed my home less than one month [Sept. 24] after Katrina. My 12-year-old and I are still living in a FEMA camper behind the house until we can contract someone to demolish and remove [it].

Had it not been for Katrina, I doubt that the complete evacuation of Cameron and Lake Charles and the surrounding areas would have been successful [during Rita]. Many of us in Lake Charles have lost all or nearly all of our possessions. Most homes and buildings in Cameron Parish were completely devastated. Our Katrina evacuees were evacuated (again!) from here the day before the mandatory evacuation.

Our hospital is part of the LSU Health Care System, with New Orleans being the headquarters for our computer system. We made the lab as hurricane-ready as we could by moving all computers and equipment away from windows. We shut down everything, evacuated the patients, and left.

With short notice, managers returned to the hospital on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and by Thursday, Oct. 13, [and] all but two lab employees had returned from Texas, north Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi--all over the South! The top floor of the hospital suffered major damage, with minor damage in other areas. Within two days, the laboratory and hospital staff had pitched in to help replace ceiling tiles, clean up, and inventory the lab and ER, move our computers and equipment back into place, re-start instruments, and get ready for patients.

Although Rita did not get the attention that Katrina did, she smashed into this area pretty hard, and recovery is slow. I am just as grateful as those Katrina victims for all the help we received from our friends and family in Mississippi, and the relief agencies and volunteers here in Lake Charles. The landscape here will not be the same for a long, long time, and some businesses and homes will never be re-built.

--Nancy Martin, M, MT (ASCP), CLS

Laboratory Manager

LSUHSC HCSD

W.O. Moss Regional Hospital

Lake Charles, LA