In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many Americans gave money or supplies in a relief effort.
Lauren Brasile gave herself.
The Brandon Township resident recalls watching the news all of Labor Day weekend. The hurricane made landfall in the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, devastating Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, killing more than a thousand people and leaving thousands more homeless.
‘I was glued to the news,? Brasile says. ‘It was captivating and mesmerizing. I was horrified and cried, wondering what I could do.?
On Sept. 5, the North Oakland Medical Center nurse went online to a nurse chatroom site. In a chat about Hurricane Katrina, a nurse from Louisiana sent out a plea for nurses to come to the state to help.
Brasile would soon be on her way.
Although she has been a nurse in various capacities for the past 18 years, Brasile had only been working for NOMC in their medical/surgical cardiology unit for about a month. She had worked some overtime, allowing her some time off. On an upcoming 10-day calendar, Brasile was scheduled to work only two days. She told her supervisors and co-workers she was going to take the unpaid days off and go help. They were supportive.
On Sept. 9, Brasile received a call from the Louisiana State Nursing Association, telling her they had a place for her to work.
Brasile, who is married and the mother of two sons aged 10 and 21, discussed her plans with her husband, Mark. He initially didn’t want her to go, concerned about reports of rape and murder. But Brasile convinced him she would be fine, as she was not going to New Orleans, but Jennings, a town of about 14,000 people two hours west of New Orleans.
Brasile left on Sept. 13 to make the 20-hour drive to Louisiana. She stopped in Kentucky, where she is originally from, and met up with her brother and a friend, who packed a truck with supplies for evacuees including personal hygiene packs, books and toys. They towed her car the rest of the way.
‘We arrived in the wee hours on Wednesday (Sept. 14),? Brasile said. ‘I freshened up, put on my scrubs and went to work.?
Brasile would work in an RV travel trailer parked at the county fairgrounds and stuffed full of supplies from doctors and pharmaceutical representatives. A nurse practitioner from Delaware, Barbara, would work with her.
The pair tried to treat no more than two patients at a time in the make-shift clinic, since there was little room for privacy. They could physically seat three patients at a time in the trailer and others waited outside in what Brasiles described as 100-degree heat with 100-percent humidity and bugs the size of small birds.
Jennings had been spared by the hurricane, but 3,000 evacuees were staying in the town and Brasile would see 30-90 of them per day, working from about 8 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. Their maladies ranged from diabetes and asthma to skin rashes caused by water they had waded through in hurricane-devastated areas.
‘Most had chronic medical conditions that were out of control or they didn’t have meds for,? recalls Brasile. ‘Diabetics, high blood pressure, and we were already seeing post-traumatic stress disorder with nightmares and anxiety attacks. They had bruises and abrasions from bumping into things in the water.?
Brasile noted a lot of the evacuees were without their medication, or the bottles had gotten wet and mold was growing on their pills. Many didn’t know how to contact their physicians.
Brasile gave breathing treatments to asthmatics, supplied diabetics with insulin, did blood sugar checks. And she listened to the stories.
‘I would ask why are you here today and a flood of tears would start,? said Brasile. ‘Some couldn’t remember the days before they arrived. It was a big blur to them.?
Others remembered their stories in detail. Asked to share the stories she heard, tears well up in Brasile’s eyes and she says she can not talk about it, it is too difficult. Slowly, she shares bits and pieces– an elderly couple who only took three days worth of clothing, thinking they would return, but their house was completely under water; a man she saw on Sept. 17 (Brasile’s 40th birthday and 11th wedding anniversary) who had only been rescued and brought to Jennings that day who had survived on canned green beans and water on the second floor of his home while waiting for rescuers and whom she treated for skin rashes and stress disorder; a woman who had returned to St. Bernard Parish to survey the damage to her home about 12 minutes from the French Quarter and said she was overcome with toxic fumes. The woman had symptoms of acute allergic response– swollen eyes, throat, nose and difficulty breathing and told Brasile no one should be allowed back, ‘It’s not safe.?
Brasile also heard stories of rescues– townspeople who took boats to the area and rescued people; a woman who wouldn’t leave her dogs and was bit by a stressed dog was led by a stranger to higher ground who then stayed with the woman for 24-hours on an overpass while waiting for help and another man who picked up the pair and took them back to Jennings, along with two dogs.
‘A lot of tears flowed both ways,? Brasile said of the story-telling. ‘Some were stoic and with others the anxiety was real obvious.?
In the last few days of her 7-day stay, Brasile gave a lot of tetanus shots to evacuees planning to return to hurricane devastated areas.
‘A lot of people were determined to go home and just as many said they would never go back,? Brasile said.
Although Brasile wanted to stay in Jennings longer, she was forced to leave after a week because another hurricane, Rita, was coming.
On Sept. 20, she worked in the morning and then left to make the 20-hour drive home. A few days later, on Sept. 24, Hurricane Rita made landfall on the Texas-Louisiana border and devastated Jennings.
‘After Rita came through I was a wreck,? says Brasile. ‘They (the evacuees) had suffered so much and now they were going through more. I would have gone back after Rita if I’d had a chance.?
Brasile described the work she did in Jennings as rewarding and fulfilling.
‘I feel like it’s the best work I’ve ever done in my life,? she said. ‘The evacuees were shocked a nurse from Michigan and a nurse practitioner from Delaware came to help them. They were grateful.?