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quote:Originally posted by Steel Magnolia
<Does anyone object to my posting more of this story?>
maggie


I sure don't. I live in Fort Lauderdale and can only imagine what Katrina was like. Wilma came in our backdoor last year and there are still (almost a year later) lots of place with blue tarps for roofs. Bellsouth (telephone), FP&L (power) and Comcast (cable) still have out of town crews down here helping out. Wilma was (supposedly) a Cat 2 when it came through here. I have lived in FL most of my 48 years, been through a few myself. I thank God I have never had to deal with a Level 4 or 5 storm. I will listem if no one else does.

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mmmmm, pork bellies... /drool

I've been involved both as a SAR Member and the Director of a rescue team in Canada. Our team volunteered to go to the US and help evacuate/rescue civilians trapped by the storm and waters. We've seen places hit in war time; but these areas we were sent to assist were harder to endure. It is true on this fact: seeing it on TV news and being in the middle of it are two DIFFERENT things. It was sad to see so many had lost so much. I grew up in the prairies, and survived the tornado that hit Edmonton, Alberta years ago. I know what a natural disaster can do.

We lost a few people during our rescue mission. All I can say is I'm happy to hear so many made it and are moving forward. My team and I will carry both the memories of those we helped and those lost forever. As we prep to deploy again, we will always remember the ones we helped.

So from my perspective, posting your story is a great reminder of how life can be cut short so fast. Live and enjoy the moments you do get.

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Maggie,

What your telling us is very moving, and thank you for sharing and being very discriptive. I have never been around a hurricane, and have only seen pictures and what they show on tv. But listening to what someone has to say from their point of view brings alot of meaning of what some of the people went through. Thanks And would galdly like to hear more..

Well maggie said it all!!! it was very, very tuff times!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could get deep into this issue as i also went through it ,right down the road from maggie:[ The storm its self wasnt scary it was the aftermath of it all!!!!!!!!!!:[ And trust me i have seen some very scary sh$% since i have been in the military:[

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quote:Originally posted by Steel Magnolia

Thank you, GL. Florida certainly has had it's share. I know that people like you and Zentock who went through Hugo know what I'm talking about.

Slim, I have no clue what they do with pork bellies. Maybe cat food?

Thrawn, I have much to say on the subject of volunteers and what they have done. I deeply and sincerely thank you and those others who came and who continue to come. It is the volunteers who have made real and lasting differences in the lives of the people down here.

The Hospital
Monday morning began as a gray rainy day. From my 3rd floor hospital room that faced north I could see tall pine trees whipping in the wind. As the morning progressed and the wind picked up, bits of sheet metal began blowing off the roof. Below my window was an extension of the first two floors so there was a roof just outside my window. Sometimes the sheet metal would land on the roof below me. It got a little scary when the wind would blow it across the roof in all directions. I was always ready to bolt from the room if it started coming toward me. The roof had little pea gravel on it and occasionally I’d jump out of my skin when one of those small rocks would hit the window like a bullet. At this point, Katrina was going across the tip of Louisiana and we were in the most dangerous northeast quadrant. I was constantly attempting to send and receive text messages since this was the only form of communication left. My daughter near Seattle was the contact point for the entire family but every message I sent went to all of my children in addition to a friend in KY and Illusion, one of my first Twars buddies who had called me every single day I was in the hospital. I made my fingers sore typing on that little phone. Around 10 in the morning I got a message from my daughter then in Atlanta that said, Get in the hall NOW. She was watching what I could not see and that was reports that there were tornadoes in the area and later ....reports that the hospital I was in had been badly damaged. It was about the same time that the hospital staff began moving us into the hallways. As I already told you, I was the healthiest person on the floor, no oxygen, no IV attached so I was free to move about. My husband and I helped by moving our own chairs and generally by trying to stay out of the way of a very busy staff as windows began blowing out and we again had to move into a different hallway. Among other things that happened that morning, there had been a fire alarm on our floor. I imagine the rumor that it was hospital staff smoking in the stairwell was pretty close to the truth, but this fire alarm was also among the last messages that got out of the area and into the news.

The passage of time in the hospital corridors is very much a blur. We had generators but the air conditioning was off so it was hot. We hardly heard the wind but constantly heard the calls for housekeeping and maintenance workers. When we were moved out of our rooms, they wanted the charts to stay with the patients so those in beds had them laying beside them. I was handed mine since I was walking around. In my boredom, I once flipped through it. Most of it was technical lab reports, etc. but I came across a report from my general practitioner that I could actually read. It began “Mrs. C is a very pleasant <deleted> year old patient, etc......” About the time I started reading it, a nurse came along and told me I wasn’t supposed to read my chart without permission from the doctor.....lol. The poor nurses had their hands full enough without a patient being uncooperative so I closed it with a smile. It was nice to know that my doctor found me pleasant.

Another tidbit that I found to amuse me was the doctor making his rounds in the very public hallway. He looked at my chart, listened to my heart, etc. After our medical conversation I commented ‘so much for the HIPPA and privacy laws’ He quietly said to me, ‘If you think this is bad, you ought to be on the geriatric floor. They are having a hard time getting the patients to leave their clothes on.’ Just another routine day in the hospital. lol

It was probably 5:00 p.m. when they let us back in our rooms. Considering they had a problem in the hall bathroom with flushing I was extremely grateful to be back in my private room even though they told us not to flush.

We still had generator power but of course the cable was out. Phones of course were not working, not even cell phones. Somebody had dropped a big paper clip on my floor and I still had it in my tray so hubby used it to rig the tv to pick up the local tv station. We were the only working tv on the floor so staff was constantly apologizing and asking if they could watch for a minute. I began taking notes of everything I heard so that I could say to them that such and such street is under water or such and such area is reporting that everything is gone, etc. The tv station was so heavily damaged and their communications were also out so they only had slight trickles of information at this point. I’m not sure if it was the same night or the next morning that the first pictures began to come showing the damage. We all knew by then that it was very bad.

I continued to attempt to send text messages. I knew that my family would be very worried and letting them know we were ok was my top priority. It was rare by then that I was able to send or receive any messages.

Tuesday morning I woke to the sound of helicopters. From my window, I watched the Coast Guard helicopters arrive one after the other. My favorite nurse had volunteered to go work the emergency room. Since she had told me that she lived in a 2nd floor beach front apartment and had left her beloved pet there because they would not let her leave the hospital I knew that she must be among those who had lost everything. I have a great deal of admiration for the hospital staff who like the rest of us were worried about their families and homes but continued to do their jobs, nap in a darkened room on the floor, and remain calm and outwardly cheerful.







Thanks to the Navy SeaBees you guys at the hospital had drinkingwater , generators and fuel to run them:]

I wasn't about to forget the SeaBees. I didn't know about the hospital but I do know about the schools you repaired and the ball fields, etc.

hugz