Day 10

Today was my last full day in Chattanooga; I'll be leaving at 6:00 pm tomorrow. I've had a great time here, and I know I've done a lot of good. We worked though 26 condolences in the Chattanooga area, with every one being unique, personal, and very difficult. The challenge of trying to help a family that has lost their mother, father, child, or spouse in addition to everything they own is unbelievably daunting. I struggled for some time just trying to figure out how to approach this assignment. With my first meeting, however, it just came naturally. I just listened, giving them some peace for an hour or two when they didn't have to worry about what had happened, what would happen, and how to move on. They could just talk about how they felt without interruption. I was able to start a painful and long process of healing by giving them a toehold in the form of resources which can help them long-term. In the end, I could never give them what they wanted the most, but I gave all that I could, and I guess that means something.

Well, this will probably be my last post on this DR, tomorrow will just be paperwork and travel. But I will be back on the next one, which may come sooner than expected.

Day 9

I'll keep it brief because my roommate needs to sleep because he has a 6:45 am flight. A lot has happened since my last post, and I have been bad about updates because I have been having late dinners out with everyone and by the time I get back I'm just totally exhausted. They have, however, been some amazing meals. Anyway, in the past few days we have worked through all of our condolences, with only 2 from one family still outstanding. It has been a positive but difficult experience working with these families who have lost so much; their mothers, fathers, spouses, children, or all of the above. Today I met with a man who, with his 9 year old son, watched as a tree fell on his wife. I cannot even begin to understand the pain. I find comfort in knowing that while I do not get to see the benefits, I know that the resources I give them will allow them to recover faster and more fully. I sincerely hope that I made a positive impact here, and have to believe that I did in spite of not seeing it.

On a lighter note, this morning I ran in 5k put on by the church that provided the building for our headquarters. It was a fundraiser for the Red Cross. I have to say, the churches here have been incredible. They have gone so far beyond what is expected in providing for those who lost, both in their parish and not.

I should be home Monday, we are almost finished with all of our duties. Tomorrow I'll try to update, hopefully we will have another early dinner.

Day 5

Today was a good day... I suppose. I don't know quite what to think. It started off fairly normally, with me doing a lot of follow up calls and paperwork and whatnot. In the afternoon, though, I followed up with a family which lived in the area that I visited yesterday. There was a mother with her two children who lived an a doublewide which was hit by an EF-4 tornado. The home was gone, there was nothing but absolute destruction. In this home the mother was killed and one of her sons was critically injured. The grandparent of this boy and mother of the woman were left to pick up the pieces. Without going into too much detail, as I can't and shouldn't, this was an unbelievably bad situation. Coming into this I struggled a great deal with what to do; what do I do for a family who has experienced this kind of loss? I got to the hospital where the boy was and where is grandparents had been 24/7 for the past 11 days I started speaking with his grandmother, and there I sat for the next 2 hours. I just listened, something which I think the grandmother truly needed. It was one of the most bittersweet feelings imaginable. I was in a room with such unbelievable pain but I was bringing them some sort of peace, even if it was the most minuscule amount. I provided them with the information about getting financial assistance and getting counseling for their family, but more importantly I listened. I guess there isn't much else to say, it was certainly a special and memorable, but definitely not happy, day.

Day 4

My post for today will be no words other than these first few, none are needed.

Day 3

Tonight's post will be brief, as I am totally exhausted. I'm not sure why, I haven't done all that much but I can barely keep my eyes open. Today I went to check on an elderly man who, well, to keep a long story short and not divulge detail, is in great shape for somebody who has lost their house and he didn't need our help; but was certainly grateful for the check up. After that we went into the neighborhood where he lived and met with a handful of families, and were happy to find that everyone we found has had their immediate needs met, whether through family, friends, church, or all of the above. Community is truly an amazing thing in these situations. We visited a Southern Baptist Church which was the shelter in this man's community and were blown away; they have rooms and rooms full of food, bedding, clothing, and cleaning supplies. It seems as though they have been able to all but single-handedly support all of the affected people in their community. So after a brief tour of this area, about an hour from Chattanooga, we returned to headquarters to work on administrative paperwork, etc, as this operation is just getting started up.

Tomorrow should be a long day. Despite only doing some administrative tasks in the morning while everyone else is in church, in the afternoon we will be heading to a neighborhood where between 2 households 8 people were killed. A pair of mental health workers returned from this area this afternoon and were totally unable to keep their composure while relaying what they found. Again, without going into detail, the people are absolutely devastated, thoroughly traumatized, and will not recover from this any time soon, if ever. You can try to imagine the results of something like this; I'm sure what awaits is infinitely worse.

I'll give an update tomorrow about what happens, hopefully we can go out and start the groundwork for these families to recover.

Day 2

Day 2 certainly has been a whirlwind. I knew it was possible that I would be transferred to Chattanooga but this morning I got the word. While in a meeting this morning with my fellow nurses (with Red Cross all health services are nurses, regardless of background) the chief elected a supervisor to head the condolences in Chattanooga. This supervisor then selected two people to come with her. I was one of those people. And thus began the day's saga.

But first I should introduce my new friends. The supervisor is Nancy from Michigan, a retired career nurse with more Red Cross experience than any one person should have, and Liz, a brand new nurse from Sonoma County California who is on her first DR. They're both great and, needless to say, the drive to Chattanooga offered plenty of bonding time.

Ok, back to the saga. After tying up the few loose ends we had time to create in Greenville and heading back to the hotel to re-pack our bags we headed out for Chattanooga, a 3 1/2 or-so hour drive. We had lunch at a nice little waterfront restaurant in the town of Dandridge (a great southern town, it reminded me somewhat of Boone but without the giant university) and continued on our way. We first went to the local chapter, made some friends, and then were pointed in the direction of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center). By this time it was too late in the day to get started on anything so we headed for the hotel. This was quite an ordeal, with a great deal of confusion about where we were to be staying and, through talking to multiple staffing managers as well as hotel managers we ended up in a Best Western. Here we made another friend, a mental health worker from Philadelphia who goes to where other than Banner Elk for the summer. The 4 of us went to find dinner and ended up downtown at a great restaurant near the water. After dinner I decided to take the scenic route north across the river, west for a bit, and then south back across the river. By some miraculous stroke of luck we came across the river back into town just as the minor league baseball stadium, which is right on the river, was having its fireworks show. So we watched the fireworks as we drove across and quite literally drove right under them. After all of that excitement we got back to the hotel, where I have met my new roommate, Frank, a PR guy.

But anyway, I'm glad to be in bed now and I'll definitely be ready to start working in earnest, and not traveling, tomorrow.

Day 1

Well, back by popular demand is the publication of my experiences while on a DR (Disaster Relief operation). I've made it to Greenville, Tennessee and it looks like I'll be here for at least a little while. There is a good chance I'll be going to Chattanooga at some point, but I won't worry about that for the time being. There were a few tornadoes here which were, from what I understand, quite powerful (EF3 or so). Even though we are over a week out from the actual event the operation here is just getting started. Most of the national-level volunteers got here yesterday or today, and more are arriving tomorrow. In fact, until yesterday there was only one health services person in this area, and she is local. The national need for volunteers is phenomenal right now and I think Alabama took many of them over the past week.

Anyway, I got into Kingsport, went to the local chapter, got a car, and was sent here to Greenville. Upon arrival at the headquarters (which is in the dining room of a fairly large restaurant) I linked up with my fellow health services workers and learned about my tasking. For the foreseeable future I will be working on a condolence team, composed of myself, a caseworker, and a mental health worker. This entails procuring information about those killed by the tornadoes, meeting with their families, and providing aid in the form of money for funeral expenses as well as health and mental health services. From what I understand, there were 13 or so people killed in this area and more with still life-threatening injuries. Long story short, this will undoubtedly prove to be a very difficult 2 weeks.

Well, now I'm at my hotel with my roommate, a nice semi-retired psychologist from Myrtle Beach, relaxing and preparing for tomorrow (and watching CSI). I think I'll go to sleep and give another update tomorrow night.