A Frustrated Nurse Writes About Poor Conditions in Evacuee Shelters

I hear ya BBFRN ,a ICU nurse I casually know, volunteers on a hospital ship during emergency times. He has been involved with the Tsunami, Katrina and other emergencies. I listened to his frustration, not with the patients he encountered, but how once their ship was in port New Orleans was restricted to their being able to treat patients.. that would be another thread though.

No matter if one has the heart of a volunteer I do not believe it will hinder them.

all of these things might be true, the frustrations of the one nurse or the good feedback of the other
katrina cannot be compared with gustav..
in katrina you had a lot of families split up d/t to first responders taking people off of roof tops and bridges and one part of a family might be taken to one shelter and then their family members might be taken somewhere else..you might have little children w/no id in alabama and a frantic mom in houston
also in a gustav shelter you might have a group of evacuees who have been through the horror of katrina and they have been trying to put their life back together when alongs comes another storm and they don't know what they will be going home to, another flooded mess etc

just as you have different people in a town you will have different people in a shelter, those who will cooperate and those who have an overdose of entitlement

volunteer if you feel like you can but sign up for a certain amount of time, exhaustion does no one any good, check up front about how much help you will have

Volunteering with FEMA after Katrina and Rita- it was almost a complete debacle.
FEMA officials informed us that volunteer nursing staff had "enabled" many evacuees, and wow were they right. Evacuees didn't want to leave the shelter. Shelter officials had to threaten them with arrest if they didn't leave.
Many evacuees felt they had it made- nurses waiting on them hand and foot-all the attention they could ever want, feeding on the disaster. Free donated clothes were sent out daily to be dry cleaned-paid for by FEMA. Some people tend to be very dependent. Independent evacuees promptly took the first offer of FEMA funded apartments, many refused apartments because it "wasn't what they were looking for".
"I am from St. Bernard Parish, and that is where I am going to live- find me a place there or keep this shelter open". When explained to them that the Parish was gone- no apartments- they said "we will wait here until something comes open".
Personally, I will never volunteer again unless I have my own transportation, and can go home when things get crazy.

Why is a medical history essential in a shelter? Unless it is a special needs shelter-

Wanted to let you know that my wife was the nurse who wrote and experienced each situation. She has been an ICU/CCU nurse for 17 years. She went to Indonesia after the Tsunami and worked in the shelters in Shreveport during Katrina and Rita for about 7 weeks. She too was concerned about causing volunteers to hesitate or not to volunteer when disasters happen however after consulting with the local head of the medical Red Cross and receiving his approval of the letter, she sent it to the Shreveport Times and Bill O'Reilly. I helped at the shelters, as did my 14 and 12 year old daughters (early in the week before things got crazy), brother-in-law, brother-in-law's sister and his mother, and my neice, along with a number of volunteers from various local hospitals and community centers. The evacuees accused the volunteers of doing something to cause people to have seizures, only later to find out that the man had consumed quite a bit of alcohol that night at the shelter. One mother nearly refused to allow her child to be given zofran (not sure of the spelling since I am not medical) because she heard that the medicine the volunteers were giving people were killing them. It was reported that 8 people had died at the shelter by the local newspaper. One person did die, however she did not die at the shelter. She was 88 years old and had advanced cancer. When she was removed from the bus, my wife immediately had her transferred to a local hsopital where she passed away a short time later. I know the events my wife wrote about may seem improbable however they are the truth. As I write this she is currently at the Sam's Club Shelter in Shreveport helping Hurrincane Ike evacuees. This is after she worked a 12 yesterday and today and is supposed to teach an ACLS class on Friday AM.

I have one thing to say about the bad conditions that you experienced. "Louisiana" Enough said!!!

I am very sorry this happened.
And overwhelming admiration for the nurse who still volunteers.
It is not always thankless:

Nurse Angels: Hurricane Katrina Relief Volunteers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upRprKCj2wU

Louisiana? Does that mean that what this person experienced could not possibly happen in any other place ,but Louisana? I guess I might be ignorant, but why would that be true.


Fear, panic can bring out the best or worst in people no matter it happens.

Yes, the nurse is real (now we know), and her feelings regarding her experiences should be validated. Thank goodness for people like her, who continue to fight the good fight. I don't get the comment about LA, either.

I do think that arrangements must be planned in advance for volunteers to go home for any reason.