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Nov. 26 - Dec. 5, 2005
Baton Rouge & New Orleans, Louisiana
Arriving back to Baton Rouge midday on Saturday of the long Thanksgiving weekend, everything is deserted. Instead of bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic and lines at grocery stores, few cars are on the freeway or side streets. Only 2 other customers were in Albertsons –fewer than the checkers there to serve us. This feels eerie after 3 trips to a bustling Baton Rouge. The New Orleans Airport is open now, but still relatively unused. The house provided for the TOP Teams just outside Baton Rouge is near the freeway to New Orleans. We will spend 3-5 hours stuck in the same traffic all of Baton Rouge/New Orleans inhabitants are experiencing. This makes our days long and not as efficient as we would like; we are able to see fewer clients because of the long commutes everyday.
When walking into the sites where we have been working the last months, smiles greet us with, “Hi, TOP. I recognize your badge and your bright turquoise lanyard. We may not know all of your names, but you sure make us feel better after we work with you!” These are very sweet words to hear after the huge effort it has taken to get the Trauma Outreach Program up and running this year. We were able to respond again to another tragedy in our world - this one on our own soil and that feels wonderful!
This week our field plan is to complete as many individual sessions as we can, and to continue our trauma education for small groups. We have also been invited to give a short presentation to 200 priests. Two of our team members are very excited they have drawn lots for that assignment this week. The time allotted for us was very short, but after many priests wanted more information and to talk to us about what we said when we told them, as trauma therapists, we consider them ‘first responders’. They agreed though they had not considered it before. Another 2 team members visited one of the ‘trailer cities’. It was a bit shocking to see 1900 hundred people living with only the barest necessities in camp trailers – not mobile homes as we had thought. We heard many people were having difficulty staying warm, and that because of the poor insulation, keeping a supply of propane was challenging. TOP teams members looked at each other knowing that their rattled nervous systems are playing a role their temperature regulation as well. These tiny sleeping quarters do not have cooking facilities. Three times a day, the inhabitants walked through the mud to retrieve their meal in a Styrofoam container from a central cook-tent. There was trailer there for medical needs and one for case-workers. No place for community, no place for activities, no place for privacy.
Another agenda item this week is to meet with our host to work out details for us to continue our work in the Gulf Coast. Catholic Charities is so pleased with what we have been able to accomplish, they have requested us to go to Mississippi and perhaps Houston or Florida. They would also like us to teach our Trauma First Aide® class to their clinical staff New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Plans are underway to begin early 2006.
The stories we heard this week were a little improved after people had a few extra days of rest and a chance to reconnect with their families. Many people took the holiday opportunity to leave Louisiana and change scenery. Others stayed and worked on getting back into their homes. All said, they were more thankful this holiday for the small gifts of family and friends than they had ever felt in their lives. We also heard stories of finding ‘gumbo pots’ and feeling the possibility of a new life, though maybe not in New Orleans.
TOP Team – Week 4
Team Leader - Geneie Everett, New Mexico
Clinical Supervisor - Kristin Sagert, New Mexico
Giselle Genillard, New Mexico
Meg Deutsch, New Mexico
Faith Nelson, California
Larry Shaw, California
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katrina/rita
