Posted: 10/4/05
Working with desperate, displaced people
Brownsville woman volunteered for Red Cross
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Sharon Scanlan Rohrer saw some tremendous and complicated challenges during a recent stint in Louisiana with the Red Cross.
The Brownsville woman worked as a nurse in two shelters that took in victims from Hurricane Katrina. She left on September 11 and returned on September 26.
Rohrer first spent a week in a first aid station at a Baptist church in Houma, 60 miles southwest of New Orleans.
The next week she was in a gymnasium at Nichols State University in Thibodoux that housed 585 people, plus the Red Cross staff. Rohrer helped set up and run a first aid station.
She said two men walked the entire 60 miles from New Orleans at her first site. There were no vacant motel rooms within 100 miles, she said.
As the head nurse at the gymnasium site, she would have to get up at night if there were any problems, in addition to her 12-hour shift during the day.
Local officials at Thibodoux felt the Red Cross could handle just about anything, Rohrer said. One day they sent her a sex offender. She refused to accept him. ìI just put my foot down,î she said. ìI had to ban him from the shelter.î
Another time a lady arrived driving a New Orleans city bus that she had filled with her friends and relatives. ìShe drove a whole busload of people in and promptly got arrested,î Rohrer said. The woman was released the next day. It illustrated how desperate people were following the August 29 hurricane.
One day an elderly lady arrived who had just been discharged from a hospital while on clear liquids and with a heart rate of 160. This was at the time that the people in the shelter were going to be evacuated to Monroe, six hours away, due to the threat of Hurricane Rita. Rohrer was alarmed at the womanís condition, and thought she should be transported in an ambulance. After Rohrer argued her point, thatís what happened. The evacuation was finally called off by the parish president, who is the equivalent of our county commissioner. He assessed the storm and figured the people would be safe in the concrete gymnasium.
ìThere was heavy winds and we were perfectly safe in the shelter,î Rohrer said.
Poverty-stricken people
The people that Rohrer saw in her two weeks in Louisiana were very poor. They donít have relatives or other resources, Rohrer said. ìThereís no place for them to go,î she said.
Many of them had chronic health problems, like rotten teeth. Some had never been to a dentist. Rohrer spent part of her time trying to get them treatment. Some dentists cooperated, but others didnít. Rohrer had one dentist tell her he would only do extractions.
Doctors were getting burned out too, she said.
The gymnasium was crowded, with cots side by side, and just two bathrooms with about eight stalls each. Sharing bathroom and shower facilities was hard, Rohrer said. She and her co-workers passed out a lot of soap. ìHandwashing, we just pushed,î she said.
Rohrer saw a lot things like ring worm and skin rashes.
Some people were appreciative, Rohrer said, but others just wanted money. ìThey werenít focused on the fact that they were getting food and shelter and water,î she said.
Rohrer doesnít know what will happen to the people in the shelters. She thinks some will relocate to places like Houston, Texas. ìTheyíre just hanging on,î she said. ìAnd theyíre the ones that are the poorest.î
That fact isnít getting the people a warm reception either, Rohrer added. Local people are not happy to see them come, Rohrer said. ìThey want them to move on. And how can they if they canít go back to New Orleans?î she asked.
All this raises some political questions in Rohrerís mind, like why the United States gives tax breaks to rich people. ìThe challenges are tremendous,î she said.
This was Rohrerís third time volunteering for the Red Cross. She also went to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the Los Angeles earthquake of 1994. She may go back in a couple weeks.
Why does she do it? ìIím a nurse,î she answered. ìThatís why I went. You need to use your skills.î
It was a tiring experience, both physically, as her swollen feet testified, and mentally, dealing with the politics and extreme health problems.
Hurricane Katrina caused damages are estimated from $200 -500 billion. More than 1,000 people died in the storm.
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