Memories of Katrina

Hurricane Katrina, September 2005


Gustav is in full swing this morning, battering the Gulf coastline. Three years ago, I was working for an Austin nursing agency called Staff Search, working in several local hospitals. I was making excellent money, was very involved with my circle of friends, and really pretty much consumed with my own life. I'd heard about Katrina briefly on the news, and then in phone conversations with my mother telling me how bad it was. I wasn't really aware of the scope of Katrina, and honestly I didn't really care much, such was my self-centered involvenment with my own dramas. It just didn't register with me. Staff Search took a contract with the City of Austin to provide relief, alongside FEMA and The Red Cross. I believe we had about 20,000 refugees in Austin. We worked in two different settings-at the convention center downtown providing medical care, and at Givens Park. I was at the Givens Park facility, where we provided non-medical medical care, ie., allocation of funds towards medications, medical supplies, etc. We were responsible for awarding HUNDREDAS of thousands of dollars daily. It was a 12-14 hour, 6 day a week job. The money was great, but it was a really emotionally and physically draining experience.

I wasn't prepared for what I heard from these poor people. I heard stories that will stay with me for the rest of my life....the woman who's husband was accidentally left in his hospital bed during hospital evacuation...the ICU nurse forced to abandon critical patients to die....the woman fighting to take care of her mother and an entire abandoned nursing home until she just couldn't anymore. These examples are just three amongst many. These people and their stories touched me in a way I'd never experienced. Sure, I was used to death, sorrow and general yuckiness. But these people had really gone through something that the vast majority of us are never faced with....and they were still loving, sweet, kind people despite it. How corageous those people were. Even while telling me of their most horrible experiences and deepest sorrows, they were courageous and strong. My apathy and sefhishsdness quickly changed, and I had a new perspective on alot of things A big part of me changed during that assignment. I grew immensely, as a nurse and as a human being. I'll never forget that expereince as long as I live.

Gustav hit the Gulf Coast this morning. Miraculously, it's not going to be as terrible as Katrina. The response of the local and federal government has been phenominal. Never again will there be another disaster the magnitude of what happened during and after Katrina.

GW's in Austin right now, "overseeing" the Texas relief effort. He reminds me of a whipped child...anxious to not get in trouble again. Ah...I shouldn't be an asshole to him right now.

If Gustav had coincided with the kickoff of the Democratic National Convention, countless preachers would have announced it to be evidence of God's displeasure with Democrats, and undoubtedly, homosexuals. What a strange, sad, archaic way of thinking....punishment with the weather by an unhappy god. Saints preserve us....