Volunteer Nurses Needed for Hurricane Emergency!

glascow · Sep 5, 2005

MedPulse® Special Edition: Katrina Aftermath

http://www.medscape.com/pages/editorial/public/alertcenters/katrina

This MedPulse Special Edition provides healthcare professionals with information on emerging infectious diseases, relief efforts, and possible ways of assisting these efforts through donations or volunteer activities.

Credit: AP/Wide World Photos Volunteer Opportunities

Check our Alert Center with regular updates on how to help.

The Office of The Surgeon General and the Office of Public Health Emergency has provided a site for healthcare professionals who wish to volunteer for relief efforts. For information and an application, go to https://volunteer.ccrf.hhs.gov/.

The Louisiana State Nurses Association (LSNA) is helping to coordinate emergency nursing efforts. Nurses with ER, ICU, or other hospital experience should contact LSNA at 1-800-457-6378, 225-201-0993 (keep trying if telephone lines are busy), or email at [email protected].

In Our Own Words: Medscape Nurses Blog

Hurricane Katrina: Nurses and NPs Help

Health professionals describe the difficult job of caring for evacuees with numerous health problems: "Victims are broken hearted, stressed, and fearful... We had no system for this. We had to find and orchestrate care with what resources we had. Communication was unreliable and conflicting at times."

American Nurses Association

Bioterrorism and Disaster Response: Hurricane Katrina

Send us your dispatches and photos from the field

Include your full name, email address, hometown (city and state), a caption for the photo, and your permission for photos to be published online. We are also interested in volunteering opportunities and on-the-scene reports from the perspective of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, or health professional students. Contact our editors

Discussion

Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts

Hurricane Katrina could have serious health consequences. Discuss volunteer opportunities and how health professionals can aid in relief efforts.

Articles

Katrina Scatters New Orleans Med Students

Communication has been difficult for students and faculty of the Tulane University medical school since floods forced them to evacuate, but they are regrouping slowly.

Hurricane Katrina: Surviving the Aftermath

Recommendations from the CDC and FEMA on safe drinking water, returning to a flooded home, and more.

Medical Teams Head to Gulf for Katrina Aftermath

Information for the General Population

Articles on Katrina from WebMD Health

What You Can Do to Help Katrina's Survivors

Hurricane Katrina and the floods and destruction that followed have sparked concern far and wide. Learn how you can help.

Updates on Katrina Information From Relief and Government Organizations

From the CDC

General Information from the CDC on Hurricanes

From the American Red Cross

Katrina Relief and Recovery Efforts From The American Red Cross

From the Louisiana State Medical Society

Hurricane Katrina Medical Relief Efforts

Jag23 · Sep 5, 2005

Great idea - think I will email Larry King about how Canadian nurses wnat to help and that we are being turned away because of licencing - I also read on one of the US websites that nurses going to Texas from Lousiana are required to pay a $200 dollar fee to get a Texas licence - I am thinking the bureaucrats need to let some things go in this time of crisis - these nurses are voluntarily going to transport patients to safety - for them to be told to pay is ridiculous :angryfire To all of you nurses dealing with this tragedy - I wish I could help - I am sitting here biting my nails wishing I could jsut go down tehre and help you I felt the same way during 9/11 - I am praying all the time for your safety and relief.

Hi,I also pray for these neighbors who have been so devastated by this horrible hurricane. I have nursed for over 30yrs and have experience in transport,triage,and emergency nursing. I am more then willing to help in any way,however am not familar with the logistics of volunteering in these situations. I have placed a phone call to Louisianna regarding nursing volunteers,will wait to see what becomes of that. As of right now,prayer is what myself and everyone "Can Do" .....Joan :rotfl:

suzanne4, RN · Sep 5, 2005

The sticky posted above is the latest information from Louisana State Nurses Association. It has all of the current information that you may be looking for.

MissJoRN, RN · Sep 5, 2005

As far as sending things, ladies, let's not forget tampons and pads. Undies are great too.

You're right! I'll be sure to pack extra... if I don't forget that I'm due for mine, too, while I'm there (I know, I know "TMI!") But, yes...good thing to pack! I'm hoping to have room in my luggage after my stuff for "extras" I'm also planning on coming home with next to nothing that I leave with.

FYI- I'm leaving Tues AM for MIssissippi, after calling the # posted one one of these threads. Theyseemed excited to have someone available ASAP. I only hope I can live up to their (and my!) expectations. Wheww!

mugwump · Sep 5, 2005

Well some of the evacuees arived in phoenix today. I guess the hospitals are manning the colluseum in shifts. Our hospital is doing today and tomorrow. I work tomorrow so maybe I can volunteer another time.

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Sep 5, 2005

I will say this - I did go today and work triage at one of the shelters. We had WAY too many people. I am in no way advocating that you NOT volunteer, you just might want to be patient and wait till they actually need people. I plan to call up again in a couple of weeks and see what needs to be done then. Interest will have waned, people will have returned to their lives and lost the sense of ugency this disaster has held for us all. That doesn't mean the situations will be resolved however and the need may be greater then.

Go take the red cross trainings, get involved and most of all be patient. We don't all have to be there at the beginning - the need may be greater down the road...

Rough stories, lots of tears...just heart wrenching what these people have all been through. That won't change in a matter of weeks.

jean wassel · Sep 5, 2005

We have almost 6000 homeless at the cajundome in Lafayette. I am just arriving home from there. The buses arrived in droves to drop people off during the night. They are arriving in the clothes they had on when the hurricane hit. They have been swimming in the dirty water, are soiled with urine and feces, and sunburned. Most had not eaten or drank in several days, much less taken there meds. (think: no psych drugs in addition to your normal diabetic and CV meds). They were picked up on I-10.
The buses that arrived at the cajundome last night had very sick people on it. They were dropped at the door. We had no Nurse Practitioner or MD to triage. The red cross is there but is only a band-aid station I am told. CIS had set up a clinic yesterday but it was closed when the buses started arriving during the night. Some refugees were unable to walk off the bus. I was on the phone with a doctor who was helping me to triage. I want to thank Dr. XXX for talking to me on the phone during those rough hours. Also thanks to Dr. XXX for responding to a panicked call from me to please come help (thanks to a UMC nurse who put me in touch with these physicians). Dr. XXX also arrived, more red cross staff (who apparently had been sleeping, I had no idea they where they were there, communication is strained due to this rapid influx of refugees.) The police and paramedics quickly responded once alerted to our situation. We knew there was a list of volunteers somewhere, but we couldn't find it. One lady was in active labor. One was having seizures. At least three had not had dialysis in a week, wheezing and SOB. Many had recently had surgery and had fresh surgical wounds, who had been in the water. We had one with 5 gunshot wounds (recieved before the hurricane), the sites were grossly infected, but he was stable. Many needed the restroom but couldn't walk to the bathroom. We did not have enough wheelchairs or assistance to get them to a restroom. You can imagine the outcome. We sent busloads of acute ill (not enough ambulances) refugees to local ERs. I believe some were also sent to another local shelter. We did not have blankets, pillows, or enough showers and clothes to help all these people.
God bless everyone affected by this tragedy and for the all the help that responded once they were alerted to our situation! I am praying that communication will improve among the many many volunteers who are there to help. Our Red Cross has been wonderful, but I am afraid they are understandaby overwhelmed with the situation.
I know there are many other shelters around Louisiana who are probably facing similar situations. We will get through this!!

Hang Tough ! Help is coming your way. Thank you for all you have done. I pray for you. The sun will rise tomorrow & little by little things will improve. Have faith.

sored · Sep 5, 2005

You are so crass.

aa68 · Sep 5, 2005

thanks for the offer,but can i be eligible to volunteer being a Nigerian and currently working there? and still being a member of the Nigerian Red cross.

I really like serving to humanity,but then what else if no alternative to this.

concernerd NURSE!!!

nurse/realtor · Sep 5, 2005

I just read an article in my local newspaper regarding a group of 100 surgeons who are in a mobile hospital convoy (able to do x-rays and surgeries). They are "marooned in rural Mississippi" because officials will not let them deploy. This mobile unit has 113 beds and was designed to handle disasters, it was developed after 9/11. I am concerned that if these surgeons cannot get into the disaster area, can nurses that are trying to go down on their own? I would hate for nurses to drive hundreds of miles, only to be stopped outside the area of the shelters that need help the most. I know some of us have talked to the Board of Nursing in MS an LA and have been told to come, but if the MP's won't let us through we're stuck. These surgeons and mobile unit were requested to help days before the hurricane hit, and still cannot get in. Any thoughts?

harry715 · Sep 5, 2005

I just read an article in my local newspaper regarding a group of 100 surgeons who are in a mobile hospital convoy (able to do x-rays and surgeries). They are "marooned in rural Mississippi" because officials will not let them deploy. This mobile unit has 113 beds and was designed to handle disasters, it was developed after 9/11. I am concerned that if these surgeons cannot get into the disaster area, can nurses that are trying to go down on their own? I would hate for nurses to drive hundreds of miles, only to be stopped outside the area of the shelters that need help the most. I know some of us have talked to the Board of Nursing in MS an LA and have been told to come, but if the MP's won't let us through we're stuck. These surgeons and mobile unit were requested to help days before the hurricane hit, and still cannot get in. Any thoughts?

this shows just what a farce our whole Homeland Security is...a disgrace from top to bottom...and look who suffers!

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Sep 5, 2005

Please take the political opinions to the thread where they belong. This thread is for those who are working to find out how to help.

The Medical Reserve Corps has this information/FAQ available.

http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/page.cfm?pageID=344

Also - your local MRC may be the best place to start. The Dallas area MRC is now coordinating the medical care at the shelters. As time goes on, I would suspect that most of the medical teams will be handled by the MRC's.