Doctor witnesses: Community spirit prevailed over hurricane
Published: September 21, 2005
Since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf coast last month, the news has been dominated by reports of crime and criticisms about officials’ slow response to the devastation.
A UK doctor working for the American Red Cross explains first-hand how the true picture he encountered was one of community spirit and solidarity, with people travelling thousands of miles to help.
Dr Andrew Cavey, a doctor at St Mary’s Hospital, London, with a background in public health and crisis management, was contacted by Harvard University, which was helping recruit expert staff to the new public health unit of the American Red Cross.
Dr Cavey’s job was to help coordinate the public health response, which in Mississippi involved assessing the state’s 145 shelters and trouble shooting any problems as they arose.
“We found great variability in shelters,” he said.
Some had air conditioning and wireless internet and offered a breakfast of heated waffles with strawberry puree, maple syrup and cream, while others had no electricity and too few outdoor toilets or showers to be sanitary.
“People were making do in very difficult circumstances. But I quickly realised the situation changed day by day.
Solidarity
“If you go to a shelter on the Monday and there is no electricity, by the time you have come home to think this is awful we have to sort it, you find out that by the Tuesday the community or people from the other side of the country have come along and fixed it.
“You will have a plumber from Oregon who has got in a car and driven all the way down just to help.
“It’s a wonderful display of community spirit and solidarity.”
He and his team created a monitoring system to allow them to continuously check for serious health problems or infectious diseases outbreaks, map what was happening in the shelters and react to any public health crisis.
They met every shelter manager and nurse and explained what warning signs of a potential disease outbreak to look for, such as fever or diarrhoea.
They set up a hot line number, manned at head quarters 24 hours a day, to deal with the problems and stop them spreading.
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