BIDMC Responds to Hurricane
Karen Waldo, RN, NICU (right) was one of many BIDMC staff members who served as part of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
When Hurricane Katrina wreaked its havoc on the Gulf coast, BIDMC and members of the staff were part of the relief effort.
“We saw people with chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease who had gone 10 or 11 days without their medications,” says emergency department nurse Dan Nadworny, RN, who was part of a federal international medical/surgical response team (IMSuRT). “Many people had scratches and cuts, and rashes from wading in the water. People were in shock and confused. Many of them were holding one bag — it was all they had left.”
IMSuRT is an eastern U.S. team called to duty along with three federal teams from Massachusetts known as disaster medical assistance teams (DMATs). The IMSuRT relieved teams from other states who had served in the initial trying days at the New Orleans airport, a staging point for patients and other helicopter-rescued residents.
Deployed at the same time as Nadworny was emergency department nurse Jacqui Riley, RN, member of a Massachusetts DMAT. One of her main duties was medical support for mortuary team members recovering the deceased. She was charge nurse/team leader and staff nurse for a unit that saw as many as 300 workers per day for decontamination and treatment of everything from heat exhaustion to cuts and insect bites.
Karen Waldo, RN, NICU, was deployed as a member of a Massachusetts DMAT — twice, with only a few days between two-week shifts. When she arrived to help in the emergency room of Forest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, MS, it was already on generator power. Twelve hours later, the hospital was completely out of power. “We set up our tents and were the ER,” she reports. Later, she worked at Gulfport Medical Center in Biloxi, where she saw many foot wounds from people cutting themselves trying to salvage what was left from their homes. For her second deployment, she went to New Orleans, where there were only three functioning hospitals out of the usual 15. The teams set up tents and again served as an emergency room, treating and triaging 200-300 patients a day and administering hundreds of immunizations.
Ready to care for patients at the Otis Air National Guard Base (l to r): a nurse from Hebrew Rehabilitation Center; Robin Griggs, RN, MICU B; a member of the National Guard; Cindy Mendez, RN, SICU; and Natalie Mailloux, RN, MICU B.
Closer to home, BIDMC nursing staff and physicians volunteered their time working through the state Department of Public Health to provide triage and primary care for evacuees who came to Otis Air National Guard Base in Bourne. “Our staff was amazingly eager and flexible,” says Julie Gabaldon, director of emergency preparedness.
Other BIDMC Staff Involvement
- Ronald Kukla, radiology, was called to active duty to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, to cover for staff serving in the region.
- Shean Marley, RN, is serving on the USNS Comfort as part of Project Hope.
- As part of her work with the Jewish Community Relations Council, Jane Matlaw of community relations attended an interfaith service at Camp Edwards and met with the Black Ministerial Alliance and the Interfaith Planning Group to help plan for the families' needs.
Several patients from the Gulf region, most coming to the area to stay with family or friends, also ended up at BIDMC, including one patient who received radiation therapy for cancer. In addition, BIDMC donated supplies to hospitals in the Gulf. At least one person from that region has joined the BIDMC staff as a technician and two Tulane University residents will be here through the end of the year.
Read more hurricane stories in the links below:
Patient Story
New Staff Member Story
If you know of a BIDMC colleague who is serving in the reserves or as a volunteer, please e-mail cwhitcom@bidmc.harvard.edu.
— Cindy Whitcome