In their words / Becky RN (a sister of all nurses ) Here are the words of some of the bravest and most professional people that I can proudly say are my comrades. They are Licensed Registered Nurses: ----------------------------------------------------------- We just got our e-mail up and running. I hope this actually goes through! It must have been your prayers that saved us. If you came down here and saw first hand the death and destruction on the coast from Ocean Springs to Waveland Mississippi, you would see that there is NO WAY, Biloxi Regional Medical Center should still be standing!!!!
All of our staff, to the best of our knowledge survived the storm as far as there was no major injury or death. Everyone is blessed to be alive.
A large percentage of our staff have suffered catastrophic losses of homes and belongings. Many, many, many of us have lost absolutely everything we own, myself included. My home was in an area, in Pass Christian that is so badly demolished, that the national guard and EOC cannot even get to it yet. Some of my pets were in a kennel in Pass Christian that more than likely no longer exists. Everyone continues to put all of the personal loss behind them and tend to the patients, our first priority. It is only in the silence of a broken heart, when alone for a few minutes, or with a trusted co-worker, that the tears flow, briefly and then it is back to business. I do believe that most of the patients do not know the extent of the loss of the healthcare workers that are caring for them. And, they shouldn't know it. It should not be their burden.
You would not believe it here. The city of Biloxi has no water, so we have had no water to run our air conditioners. Of course we have had mid 90 degree weather. Inside, it has to be well over 100 degrees. Of course, this also means that we cannot bathe or flush toilets. Think of 100 degrees, nobody bathing and no toilets flushing. Can you spell "STINK?" We must constantly watch the staff for heat exhaustion in addition to watching the patients for the same thing. We have had only generator power, so needless to say, in order to conserve the generator power, there were frequent and extended times that the elevators were not working. (We have 6 floors in our hospital.)
We had been cut off from all outside communication. During the storm, we lost cable, so could not monitor the weather. Our EOC radio did not work, the phones went down and the cell phones would work very sporadically. Windows in patient rooms started flying in and we had to evacuate the patients out of their rooms and into the hallways. As windows continued to fly in and ceiling tiles were ripped from the ceiling in the rooms where the windows blew in, glass was flying all over the room. We had to try to nail the doors shut, because after a certain time, the broken windows were trying to suck things out of the window.
We then had to evacuate the 6th floor patients to the 1st floor. We no sooner got 38 patients from Med Surg down to the first floor, when it became apparent that the Gulf of Mexico was in our hospital loading dock, just about ready to lap over into the ER.
Things were flying off of our roof, patient rooms were leaking, not really from the roof, but the force of the wind, close to 145 mph, was driving the rain straight through our bricks. Water was then seeping down onto the ceiling of the floors below and then that started the whole domino effect of ceiling tiles falling, thing getting ruined by water coming through the ceiling, etc.
When the storm ended, we were all still alive. We didn't have any idea of what it looked like outside of our little world.
We finally were able to start getting in touch with corporate and once that happened and they started getting a list of our needs, things got mobilized really fast. I can say enough about Health Management Associates (HMA)! They are busting it, trying to get our every need met!
Our sister HMA employees are arriving to help and they are a godsend! Supplies and ice and fuel and clothes and cigarettes and chocolate and our every need is being seen to! You would just break down and cry if you could see the response from our Mississippi Division and all of Corporate and our sister hospitals!
Homeland Security is here and there are Federal Police protecting our ER doors. The National Guard is here, NDMS is here and it is overwhelming to see all of this all in and around our beautiful little hospital.
Tonight, for the first time since the storm, we have some air conditioning going. We are not sure how long it will last, but we believe that as we sleep on the floors all over the hospital tonight, we'll get some sleep for the first time. We are running out of food and we do hope that a food truck will reach us tomorrow. It was supposed to have come yesterday and did not make it.
I cannot say enough about the staff of BRMC! Through the entire 12 hour beating this hospital took, even with moving patients all over this hospital to the best area of safety, one step ahead of the storm, only 1 of our patients had any anxiety. She was a mom with a potential PE, with a 4 DAY old baby in her arms. That is a tribute to our staff, that the patients never panicked. Because the staff never let on how scared they were. They were calm and confident, professional and positive.
It has been and remains, an experience like no other. Yesterday evening, I got my first chance to get out of the building and walk around a little bit. It is 100% totally overwhelming. It smells like death and destruction. It looks like someone dropped the big one on us. Almost everything is gone or has moved to a new location.
Our ER and grounds look like a M.A.S.H. Unit. There are injured people everywhere! Our morgue is filling up. There are not enough shelters for the stranded, hungry thirsty people that are approaching our hospital hourly. We had a young man arrive to our ER and die today with a body temp of 108! We have snake bite victims, people who are already septic with Vibrio because of 7 hour swims clinging to trees after having been blown out into the storm.
Our nurses, doctors, techs, therapists, HMA everyone has been fantastic throughout! The commitment and dedication to the great responsibility of caring for the patients in our community that have been entrusted to our care and protection has been evident this week. It is an awesome and humbling experience, to say that I am their Chief Nursing Officer. With a lesser crew, we would not have survived as long as we have. I can't say that I wish this experience on anyone, but I do know that it is and will continue to be a life changing experience.
Feel free to share this e-mail with anyone that is interested. God bless you and thank you for thinking of us! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi again. I am at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, MS. (60 miles east of New Olreans in Harrison County, MS) We have no outside communication except via email due to underground cables. I don't know where to start. I have only slept about 8 hours since 10/11am on Sunday morning. I have worked like never before. I can be thankful that we have our own well, running water, electricity, and internet. Our generator power nor food supply is expected to last past Thursday morning. I am sure we will get supplies, but it will be tight.
On Sunday morning, I left for work with 3 pairs of scrubs, socks and undergarments, a battery powered alarm clock, an Ann Rice novel and a small supply of food in my bookbad. These are now the only item I own. I was able to leave the hospital for a few hours during which time I went to check on my house and the family that I have that were still in town. My house in Bay St. Louis, MS, was completely filled with water and all of my belongings are destroyed. I have not been able to contact my boyfriend of five years. I have circulated his description and will try to locate him tomorrow if I have my releif show up.
My relief was in Atlanta, GA. She is my cousin. She called her mother who is in the northern part of the state and told her that she was stuck in Hattiesburg, MS (1.5 hours north of the hospital) because there was no gas to be purchased anywhere. Her mother emailed me at midnight and told me that as of an hour ago, she siphoned gas out of an abandoned vehicle to continue her trip. The gas she siphoned may still not be enough to get her here. Her mother said that she is now out of cell phone contact. The people who are able to use their cell phones get a verizon wireless message stating the at it will cost 2.99 to activate and 1.99 a minute to talk. We have been able to get a few outside phone calls to the hospital, but the phone lines are very messed up. We are able to use the phones for interhospital communication.
I spent part of my four hours outside today locating dead bodies and tying a red, plastic ribbon to the closest tree. Helicopters blades are a constant reminder as well as the blackness that surrounds me.
As far as anything being operational, it will be months before my hospital is restored. We have a lot of structural damage. The windows in the patient rooms and along the south (beach facing) side blew out. We had to put our patients in the hallway during the storm. We are now taking in so many people it is unreal. We are discharging patients and putting them on the floor in the cafeteria just so we can have the bed to put a new patient in. I have seen so many people who were submerged in water for hours. People are coming to the hospital because they have no where else to go. It will take several weeks just to restore sanitary conditions here, but it will take months to become fully functional and years to rebuild...
My thoughts and prayers / Stacey Hilton (passerby) My t
My thoughts and prayers are with you all during this tragic time.
Prayers/ Heather (Heart goes out )
I live in Louisiana and I am seeing people from all over the affected area. It totally breaks my heart. We went to New Orleans for summer vacation this year and been many times before. It is one of the best cities in the world. I pray daily for everyone still there. And lets hope one of the greatest cities is restored.
THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS / THE CONNORS FAMILY PA I LOOK AT PICTURES AND I JUST CAN'T BELEIVE THIS HAS HAPPENED TO OUR COUNTRY. I AM SO SORRY THAT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIVING THIS WAY AND HOW THEY LOST EVERYTHING EVEN FAMILY MEMBERS.JUST KEEP THE FAITH WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS WE ARE A STRONG COUNTRY.GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR LOVE ONES.
My Heart Aches For You All / Beverly Walls Johns
I never thought that I would ever see the horrible, devastation of one of our beautiful States. To the Survivors of this tragedy: I know that you have all worked so hard in your lifetime to get your material possesions...home..cars,etc and prized pictures of loved ones,you must all be strong and get through this tragedy, homes and possesions will eventually be replaced....You are alive and I know you are so hungry and thirsty, Be Strong And Keep Going. May God Bless You All.
To the Families that have lost a Loved One: My Thoughts and Prayers are with you at this time for your loss: I know the pain and hearache of losing a loved one. Be Strong And May God Bless You All.
www.harley-walls.memory-of.com
WERE PRAYING FOR YOU ALL / Anna Garman This is such tragedy and there are no words to make anyone feel better about any of this so im just going to say god bless you all and i hope all get piece in your lifes.Hope everything works out your all in our hearts.
Please help those who are still alive. / Stephanie &. Hughie Whalen Read >>
Please help those who are still alive. / Stephanie &. Hughie Whalen
WOW! This is the worst storm damage that I have ever seen. Please don't let it get out of hand for the refugees still in New Orleans. It is getting pretty bad there. Too much crime happening. Please get the people out of the city until this is over. All of the people that are dead or hurt or homeless. My thoughts are with you. Just goes to show that we sould never take things for granted. Close
so sorry! / Shirley Ling (UK visitor )
words cannot express the horror i have seen of the devestation of what looked a beautiful place.. my heart goes out to all survivors the hartache at losing personal possesions..homes... is nothing compared to the pain of losing a loved one.. material things can be replaced a beautiful life cannot...
To all... / Bella Humphrys don't worry about it!!! you will be fine my prayers are going out to each and every one of you!!!! hold tight and god bless you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Close
sorry..../ Sarah Robinson well i want those to know including loved ones that you will always have a place in my mind and heart and we will be praying for you night and day....Close
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