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As part of the response to Hurricane Katrina, a team of UNC Hospitals' physicians and staff left Friday, Sept. 2 to travel to the Gulf Coast as part of the MidCarolina Trauma RAC's State Medical Assistance Team II. The team from UNC Hospitals is comprised of: Christine Clark, RN; Randy Kearns; Preston "Chip" Rich, MD; Michele Rudisill, RN; Ed Wilson, RN; Ben Zarzaur, MD; and Janet Young, MD. A second team from UNC Hospitals left Sept. 9 to relieve the first group of volunteers. The second team to help staff the K-Mart Klinic in Waveland, Miss., is comprised of: Alberto Bonifacio, RN; Joe Manese, Radiology Tech; Peter Milano, 5th year surgical resident; Andrew Millager, Pharmacist; Jim Rawlings, Pastoral Care; Tina Schade-Willis, MD; Renae Stafford, Trauma Attending Surgeon; Jim Starlin, Air Care Communications; and Wes Wallace, MD., attending, emergency medicine.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

UNC Hospitals' Hurricane Katrina Response Blog

Imagine:

That sleeping in a tent is a luxury......

That you work in a local ER of a 500 bed hospital...
the only one that remains functional in a six county area during and after the storm, that you have been there since the storm caring for 3 x the normal numbers of patients AND that you are living there because you, your family and the majority of the healthcare workers working with you are homeless....

That patients first thank you for being there and doing what you do AND in the same breath apologize for coming to get medical care because they are taking your time away from someone who needs it more than they do.....

That your patient who is a local red cross volunteer AND also homeless, tells you that that their loved one, boss, a person on the street had to talk them into coming to see you because they didn't want to take away time from doing relief work.....

That despite the fact that people have been spending their days wandering from makeshift tent to tent, standing in the squeltering heat for hours on end, in search of food, shelter, healthcare, government assistance and phones to try and reach loved ones, they manage to smile and say "At least we are alive" and "thank you for what you are doing" and "what can we do for you?".....

That you took care of someone, sent them to a hospital for an operation and that they returned days later with treats as a care package for you....

That a handshake, a hug and a smile are often the best and the most appropriate medicine you can provide.....

That home is no longer where the building and foundation are, where the mailbox is, where you hang your hat or take off your boots, its not even where the pictures are because you had no time to get them BUT....

That home is now where you find community in the truest sense of the word, where people who were once strangers are now your brothers and sisters and kin who offer you hope, sustenance, a smile, a human touch.....

That you have gotten more out of an experience than you could ever give back.....

That you don't have to imagine.
That in spite of the devastation: physical, emotional and economical, all of this is reality.....
That this reality exists here and now in Waveland ......

Renae

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