A Frustrated Nurse Writes About Poor Conditions in Evacuee Shelters

[cpkRN]

just a disclaimer: this was not written by me, it was forwarded to me by my husband. it made me think and i thought the people of all nurses would also be interested in reading this - especially those planning to volunteer in shelters (not to say that you shouldn't). this letter is being sent to the ny times as well as bill o'reilly. mods, if this would be better in another forum, my apologies.

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dear editor,

i am a nurse who has just completed volunteer working approximately 120 hours as the clinic director in a hurricane gustav evacuation shelter in shreveport, louisiana over the last 7 days. i would love to see someone look at the evacuee situation from a new perspective. local and national news channels have covered the evacuation and "horrible" conditions the evacuees had to endure during hurricane gustav.

true - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and the shelters need some modification. at any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or irresponsibility) of the evacuees?

does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone, charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their child's insulin?

is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate free refills on all medicines for which they cannot provide a prescription or current bottle (most of which are narcotics)?

isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot afford a $3 copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the shelter yet they can take a city-provided bus to wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of vodka, and return to consume them secretly in the shelter?

is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming evacuees so as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer staff and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol and weapons being brought into the shelter?

am i less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub emesis from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby, watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from the pillow to comfort her own son?

why does it insense me to hear a man say "i ain't goin' home 'til i get my fema check" when i would love to just go home and see my daughters who i have only seen 3 times this week?

is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must find a way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay while the fema declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire free medications under the disaster rules?

does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter is paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during the day as the shelter provides a "daycare"?

have government entitlements created this mentality and am i facilitating it with my work?

will i be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor christian if i hesitate to work at the next shelter because i have worked for 7 days being called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing for my personal safety in the shelter?

exhausted and battered,

s***** h*********, rn

[lpnflorida]

Wow, that is so powerful. thank you for sharing this perspective with us.

I do not believe you would be wrong. You have more than earned your time to be with your family.

I applaud you on your volunteer work.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

lpn- the OP said she didn't write the letter.

I think it's not true, and Snopes will eventually put it through the smell test, I hope. I volunteered at a local shelter after Katrina, and didn't see any of this kind of stuff- at all. What I did see were a lot of shell-shocked people, who were frantically trying to reach their missing family members. I still correspond with one guy (a Katrina evacuee), who busied himself with helping us take care of others. I ended up working with another, who decided to stay here, after she came here as an evacuee. She is now a nursing student. The first thing she did when she got here was to take advantage of job opportunities offered to the evacuees at the center.

We had some Gustav evacuees at the same shelter recently. I didn't volunteer this time, but have heard no such stories.

These kinds of emails are mean-spirited, and racial in tone. They really anger me. It was probably written by someone with an agenda, that hasn't lifted a finger to help a hurricane evacuee (and has probably never met one) in the first place. JMHO.

[lpnflorida]

bbfrn,

what i was responding to was the following

(will i be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor christian if i hesitate to work at the next shelter because i have worked for 7 days being called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing for my personal safety in the shelter?

exhausted and battered,

s***** h*********, rn )

whether what was written prior to that was true or not was not for me to judge. i was not there. as you say you have more experience in that area than i. however, i responded to the feelings which were expressed at the end. whether a person would feel threatened or fearing for their safety would be a thing of their perception. not whether is it fact or not, but again the feelings of not feeling safe, feeling threatened in some way.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Sorry, lpn- only the first sentence of my reply was directed at you . I can see why you thought I was getting on your case, though.

I was just responding to the letter. I received several letters like this during Katrina from some of my supposed Christian family members, and it got me fired up. I was griping at the letter, not you.

[SmilingBluEyes]

It can't be at all fun or comfortable to be in an shelter, as an evacuee OR a volunteer worker! I feel so fortunate having not been either at this point. I feel for all who have. And I admire those who work tirelessly in such shelters so that others may find a small measure of comfort. Whether this is a true letter or not, it raised my awareness today of the plight of these folks.

[lpnflorida]

BBFRN

oh, no problem. I rarely take personal offense. I just try and clarify, if I feel a misunderstanding exhists....

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

this kind of stuff irritates me, because it could deter someone from volunteering, because they may believe it. Not one person cursed at me, or was demanding, or walked off the bus demanding meds. As a matter of fact, it was very challenging getting decent medical histories & med lists from people. Many of them were unable to list their diagnoses, meds, doses, etc.

And I was not forced to work any set hours. If I had been getting treated like the 'nurse' in the letter says she was, I would have left. I can get paid for that, and a martyr I ain't.

[cpkRN]

Personally, I thought the letter sounded like some of the stories I read about working in the ED on these forums . Just kidding (sort of).

I have also never experienced working or being in a shelter, which is why I thought the letter would be of interest to some, including myself (and also up for debate, which I think is great).

I do agree that there is an implied racial tone to the letter (especially because of the city most evacuees originated from), however, I always say "sense of entitlement" comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

If this letter is for real, I would think that most people were afraid of another Katrina and may have been acting out from fear of the unknown or fear that what they've worked so hard to rebuild could be gone again. If it's merely racial propaganda meant to spark hatred, what more can I say than it disgusts me that someone could be so mean.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Now, it does sound like the ER. :chuckle

But that's a whole other thread...LOL

[lpnflorida]

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.

[CHATSDALE]

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