Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina

2010 PROSE Award Winner for Nursing&Allied Health Sciences!

2010 AJN Book of the Year Award Winner in Public Interest and Creative Works!

"The accounts are vivid, colorful, descriptive, intense, and often horrific and give cross-sectional views of life in the trenches during this disasterÖThis book is a rich primary source for both historians and disaster preparedness planners. It's not only a tribute to the courage of the nurses, but should also serve as a guide for policy planners hoping to avoid less than optimal responses to future crises."--AJN

"[T]he book...fascinates simply for its raw documentation of the dreadful events and conditions endured by nurses, doctors, and ancillary staff as they struggled to care for critically ill patients without electricity, running water, air conditioning systems, and other resources. Five years after the levees broke, the horror and chaos of Katrina is still fresh in these accounts. Through the stories, readers are transported into the hospitals as nurses heroically work together to evacuate babies from NICUs and vented patients from ICU, try to calm patients, family members, and coworkers, and make do with the equipment and supplies theyíve got."--National Nurse

"Don't ever think that this can't happen to you. You are going to read this and it's going to sound like we created this scenario, but this is a real scenario that happened."

--Pam, Memorial Medical Center

"Everything that was battery operated eventually died. There were no monitors...we tried to take care of people in the most humane way possible."

--Lois, Lindy Boggs Medical Center

Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina takes you inside six New Orleans hospitals-cut off from help for days by flooding-where nurses cared for patients around the clock. In this book, nurses from Hurricane Katrina share what they did, how they coped, what they lost, and what they are doing now in a city and health care infrastructure still rebuilding, still in jeopardy.

In their own words, the nurses tell what happened in each hospital just before, during, and after the storm. Danna and Cordray provide an intimate portrait of the experience of Katrina, which they and their colleagues endured.

Just a few of the heroic nurses you'll find inside:

  • Rae Ann and twenty others, including her husband and children, who wait on a hospital roof for help to come
  • Lisa, in the midst of caring for patients, who has not heard from her husband in 5 days
  • Roslyn, who has 800 people in her hospital when the power generators shut down
  • Linda, who uses bed sheets to write out help messages on a hospital roof, hoping someone will see them
  • The book also discusses how to plan and prepare for future disasters, with a closing chapter documenting the "lessons learned" from Katrina, including day-to-day health care delivery in a city of crisis. This groundbreaking work serves as a testament to nurses' professionalism, perseverance, and unwavering dedication.

    1136844480
    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina

    2010 PROSE Award Winner for Nursing&Allied Health Sciences!

    2010 AJN Book of the Year Award Winner in Public Interest and Creative Works!

    "The accounts are vivid, colorful, descriptive, intense, and often horrific and give cross-sectional views of life in the trenches during this disasterÖThis book is a rich primary source for both historians and disaster preparedness planners. It's not only a tribute to the courage of the nurses, but should also serve as a guide for policy planners hoping to avoid less than optimal responses to future crises."--AJN

    "[T]he book...fascinates simply for its raw documentation of the dreadful events and conditions endured by nurses, doctors, and ancillary staff as they struggled to care for critically ill patients without electricity, running water, air conditioning systems, and other resources. Five years after the levees broke, the horror and chaos of Katrina is still fresh in these accounts. Through the stories, readers are transported into the hospitals as nurses heroically work together to evacuate babies from NICUs and vented patients from ICU, try to calm patients, family members, and coworkers, and make do with the equipment and supplies theyíve got."--National Nurse

    "Don't ever think that this can't happen to you. You are going to read this and it's going to sound like we created this scenario, but this is a real scenario that happened."

    --Pam, Memorial Medical Center

    "Everything that was battery operated eventually died. There were no monitors...we tried to take care of people in the most humane way possible."

    --Lois, Lindy Boggs Medical Center

    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina takes you inside six New Orleans hospitals-cut off from help for days by flooding-where nurses cared for patients around the clock. In this book, nurses from Hurricane Katrina share what they did, how they coped, what they lost, and what they are doing now in a city and health care infrastructure still rebuilding, still in jeopardy.

    In their own words, the nurses tell what happened in each hospital just before, during, and after the storm. Danna and Cordray provide an intimate portrait of the experience of Katrina, which they and their colleagues endured.

    Just a few of the heroic nurses you'll find inside:

  • Rae Ann and twenty others, including her husband and children, who wait on a hospital roof for help to come
  • Lisa, in the midst of caring for patients, who has not heard from her husband in 5 days
  • Roslyn, who has 800 people in her hospital when the power generators shut down
  • Linda, who uses bed sheets to write out help messages on a hospital roof, hoping someone will see them
  • The book also discusses how to plan and prepare for future disasters, with a closing chapter documenting the "lessons learned" from Katrina, including day-to-day health care delivery in a city of crisis. This groundbreaking work serves as a testament to nurses' professionalism, perseverance, and unwavering dedication.

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    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina

    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina

    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina

    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina

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    Overview

    2010 PROSE Award Winner for Nursing&Allied Health Sciences!

    2010 AJN Book of the Year Award Winner in Public Interest and Creative Works!

    "The accounts are vivid, colorful, descriptive, intense, and often horrific and give cross-sectional views of life in the trenches during this disasterÖThis book is a rich primary source for both historians and disaster preparedness planners. It's not only a tribute to the courage of the nurses, but should also serve as a guide for policy planners hoping to avoid less than optimal responses to future crises."--AJN

    "[T]he book...fascinates simply for its raw documentation of the dreadful events and conditions endured by nurses, doctors, and ancillary staff as they struggled to care for critically ill patients without electricity, running water, air conditioning systems, and other resources. Five years after the levees broke, the horror and chaos of Katrina is still fresh in these accounts. Through the stories, readers are transported into the hospitals as nurses heroically work together to evacuate babies from NICUs and vented patients from ICU, try to calm patients, family members, and coworkers, and make do with the equipment and supplies theyíve got."--National Nurse

    "Don't ever think that this can't happen to you. You are going to read this and it's going to sound like we created this scenario, but this is a real scenario that happened."

    --Pam, Memorial Medical Center

    "Everything that was battery operated eventually died. There were no monitors...we tried to take care of people in the most humane way possible."

    --Lois, Lindy Boggs Medical Center

    Nursing in the Storm: Voices from Hurricane Katrina takes you inside six New Orleans hospitals-cut off from help for days by flooding-where nurses cared for patients around the clock. In this book, nurses from Hurricane Katrina share what they did, how they coped, what they lost, and what they are doing now in a city and health care infrastructure still rebuilding, still in jeopardy.

    In their own words, the nurses tell what happened in each hospital just before, during, and after the storm. Danna and Cordray provide an intimate portrait of the experience of Katrina, which they and their colleagues endured.

    Just a few of the heroic nurses you'll find inside:

  • Rae Ann and twenty others, including her husband and children, who wait on a hospital roof for help to come
  • Lisa, in the midst of caring for patients, who has not heard from her husband in 5 days
  • Roslyn, who has 800 people in her hospital when the power generators shut down
  • Linda, who uses bed sheets to write out help messages on a hospital roof, hoping someone will see them
  • The book also discusses how to plan and prepare for future disasters, with a closing chapter documenting the "lessons learned" from Katrina, including day-to-day health care delivery in a city of crisis. This groundbreaking work serves as a testament to nurses' professionalism, perseverance, and unwavering dedication.


    Product Details

    ISBN-13: 9780826118387
    Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
    Publication date: 12/14/2009
    Sold by: Barnes & Noble
    Format: eBook
    Pages: 280
    File size: 2 MB

    About the Author

    Denise Danna, DNS, RN, is Associate Dean for Professional Services, Community Activities and Advanced Nursing Practice Education, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, School of Nursing, New Orleans.


    Sandra Cordray, MA, MJ, has worked in the fields of marketing and media relations for healthcare and educational organizations, holding management positions at the hospital and regional levels in New Orleans, Texas, and south Florida. During her nine years at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans she handled marketing and media relations and served as public information officer for the hurricane season. A native of Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where her sisters and brothers still reside.

    Read an Excerpt

    chapter

    Table of Contents

    Chapter 1: History of Nursing in New Orleans
    Chapter 2 - Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans: Charity and University Hospitals
    Chapter 3 - Lindy Boggs Medical Center
    Chapter 4: Memorial Medical Center
    Chapter 5: Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital
    Chapter 6: Chalmette Medical Center
    Chapter 7: Lessons Learned
    Chapter 8: Going Forward

    What People are Saying About This

    From the Publisher

    One reader's response to the book:

    "It was fabulous...I cried, was mad, and know a great way to make sure this never happens again is to get their story out."

    —Becky Graner, MS, RN

    Nurse Consultant

    North Dakota Nursing Association

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