Return from relief duty

54 Posts

Specializes in ICU, ER, MED, SURG, TELE, HOME HEALTH.

Hello all. Just thought I would start a new thread to let everyone know how thankful I am that I was able to spend a week in LA helping with medical relief efforts.

Thanks to the help of "glascow" (here on these message boards) I spent a week in Jenning, LA setting up a free medical clinic for evacuee's. We saw 30-60 patients a day for various problems. The local community was responsible for initiating this response- not Red Cross, FEMA, or Public Health Services- in fact they wanted to shut down our little operation! The local sherrif threatened them with jail time!!

BTW- The local medical community had mixed feelings regarding our efforts. The clinic was staffed with myself and a fabulous FNP from Delaware for the last week- she was staying for another week and had been there 5 days before I arrived! Local nurses and doctors had spent some time and sent great amounts of medicines and supplies for our use! However, they did think that they would be able to 'absorb' the evacuees into their practices. Problem being $$$- we provided FREE service- didn't take insurance information, and handed out as much sample medicine- prescription and OTC- that we could.

There were many horific stories, many heroic stories, and plenty of tears!

As RITA moves into the area I pray for the safety of my new friends and the people of the area that will be once again affected by a killer storm. I hope that I have the opportunity to help again!

Lauren