Monday, Sept 12,2005, Long Beach, Mississippi

We have electricity – fans and warm showers – this is volunteer paradise! No internet, no land line phone service, though. I feel like a spy smuggling out information. A police officer from Seminole County, FL lent us a flash drive, we downloaded the last diary, and it was spirited out to the north somewhere for transmission. Don’t know how this will get to you.

FEMA showed up yesterday, and all sorts of military and police personnel arrived. We were very appreciative – cancel that – we were mystified as to why all of a sudden all this manpower was on the scene. Ah-HA – The President is touring Gulf Port – 6 miles away today. Residents here are not very happy with their government, nor with the big relief agencies. They are getting attention and support now. They needed it two weeks ago. It was people to people effort in these communities that helped them to survive – people from North Carolina, or Kentucky or Virginia, or Maryland showed up with food, water, generators, medical equipment and service – they asked for nothing, and gave everything. They cut trees, put power lines back, found bodies, handed out canned goods and gave comfort to people whose whole material lives were washed away. The stories are legend about people just showing up with the right stuff – love, comfort and a six pack of water, juice, or chain saw oil, and a little beer here and there.

I biked out to Dixie Nursing home early this am. The residents and nurses had stayed there throughout the hurricane. Many of the nurses have not gone home, or have no homes to go to. I was asked to see a young nurse with a two year old. This young woman had been in her home with the little one during the storm. The water had risen outside faster than she had expected, and she was trapped inside. The floor fell partially through, and she was wedged into the space. She held the child above her head for eight hours with the water lapping at her chin. Finally, the water receded and she managed to climb out of the hole. She arrived sobbing – at work – the nursing home. She was afraid she would lose her job if she did not report to care for the elderly. But it was the right place to go. She was cleaned up, put to bed and cared for. The little boy has the run of the nursing home, and the elderly patients delight in him. She is truly still in shock.

Back at Coast Episcopal Medical Clinic and general store, people are already lined up for medical attention – it is Monday and they do not want to be late for work. I even had to write a work note for a young man who worked at a pizza place. He had volunteered at the hospital, and with an EMT unit (he was about to START EMT training). He was thrown into picking up dead bodies out of the water and muck, assisting in moving people with very serious injuries, and he had not slept for four days – he was wheezing, and had sinus pressure. He came in with the complaint of "sore throat". His mother came back later to ask for the work note because the boss did not believe that he was sick. He got the note.

The electric company provided lunch today – big subs, fruit, and chips – we don’t even think about meals – they somehow appear. When you are in these situations, you do not look at your watch, you aren’t paid, so it doesn’t make much difference – you are there to do a job, and you do it until you are done. It seems that one of the young nurses takes an interest in our comfort and asks organizational people who come by if they will bring sandwiches. One of our patients volunteered to do red beans and rice. I asked her if she knew that there were almost 50 volunteers in the whole complex now – she said, "That’s OK, I have a kitchen, a house, electricity, and 20 people living with me now."

The police now guard us. We have a whole pharmacy in donated drugs (NO NARCOTICS), and the local hospital is supplying us with what they can. Their ER is not open because of water damage. Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama have a written agreement that in emergencies, teams will be dispatched to crisis areas from the areas not in crisis. Florida’s law enforcement support was on the way to Mississippi and Alabama within three hours of Katrina’s passing. And, Mississippi and Alabama likewise send officers when Florida has problems. The areas here were really secured within 24 hours, I am told. Louisiana is not part of this pact, and that contributed to the problems in New Orleans.

Many people only come for medical care. They are embarrassed to take a box and fill it with food and clothing. We tell them that they would be doing the same for us, as we are doing for them. With gentle coaxing we get a volunteer to take them to the Walmart of donations and fill up a box. They live in tents, with relatives, with friends, in businesses. They live. Many people did not, they are missing, and bodies are still being found.

Two women came in this afternoon – a young woman, the fiancé of the older woman’s son. The younger one had fainted, and did not feel well. While we were running a few tests for dehydration, the older lady recounted this story. She works for the town, and was at her station during the storm. Her husband, son, and three basset hounds were riding the storm out at home. The water rose to the top of the first floor. They all moved to the attic. The water kept rising. The two men held themselves and the dogs to the rafters as the house was swept off its foundation, and carried away.

As soon as she could get into the area, the woman returned to find no house, no husband, no son, and no dogs. She went back to work. She worked for 48 hours straight, knowing she had truly lost everything important in her life. She rescued others since she could not save her own family. She looked up on the third day, and there was her husband, wet, tired, muddy, but alive. She said four words, "Where is our son?" Husband and son had dropped out of the attic with the dogs when the house crashed. They found a door, and floated the dogs to safety on it– it had taken them two days to work their way through the fallen trees, broken houses, and deep water.

There are many volunteer activities here. Doctors and nurse practitioners are very much needed NOW. The Duke Team, myself and the two Virginia doctors need to leave this weekend. If you can help, please call Joe Botkin (sorry, Sweetie).410-226-5126. Leave your name and phone number. I will have some one contact you by cell phone. We do not get "bars" consistently, so trying to call here is not a good thing today –tomorrow may be different – we don’t worry about it – everything is provided for.

For those of you with construction talents or aspirations, there is much work being organized to start once the cleanup is completed – three to four weeks – it will be cooler then anyway.

You have done a great job so far. You gave food, clothing, dog and cat food, medical supplies, books, toys, and medications. I’ll find something else for you to do tomorrow – get a good night’s sleep – there is a lot to do.

With love to the towns that supplied so much, so quickly

Susan Delean-Botkin, CRNP