Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

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February 2006                                                                            Volume 10 - Number 1

Perspectives...

A Portrayal of the Katrina Response
By Krista M. Scardina

As a healthcare professional, my objectives are clear:  to protect the health and wellbeing of individuals in need of medical attention.   It is instinctive and we are trained to help those in need.  While watching coverage of the Katrina disaster unfold, I continually found myself in a need to respond and assist in any way possible.  The federal government, on the surface, seemed to have failed on numerous accounts.  However, while watching the media portrayal of the response efforts, I knew there was so much more occurring behind the scenes and I wanted to be a part and change the perspective being conveyed to the public.  As an officer of the Untied States Public Health Service (USPHS), I have had previous experience with response to hurricanes.  Five days after the storm hit the Gulf Region, I was called to deploy to Gulfport, MS.  I knew this deployment would be one that would change my life forever.  

Though quite the logistical nightmare to deploy a team of 100 medical professionals to the scene, we finally arrived on site and prepared to respond and assist the state with any requests that were made. A team was quickly formed to assess the most rapid needs of the community and I was a member of that team.  That is where I heard and listened to many stories and where I learned the most on my deployment.  We were given GPS coordinates in order to provide a random sampling of houses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Of the first 10 GPS coordinates received, most of the homes were entirely leveled with no civilization in site.  The most destruction I have ever seen in person.  There were no words to explain what I saw or what I felt.  As we continued along the coast, we finally were able to find some residents of the communities that were further inland.   Their stories were countless and heroic, full of suffering and anger.  We were their soundboards and their backbones.

I can tell you that the media did not do justice to those who were helping and responding through the appropriate chain of command as set forth in the National Response Plan.  The media became our enemy in the field.  We did not need the pessimism as portrayed, for it would only diminish our efforts and mentally affect our actions.  The work of my team was such a small part of the overall response.  Though the lives we affected and the victims that changed our lives, were not so small.  Our team provided care at Special Needs Population shelters across the state,  provided mental health assistance, dispensed pharmaceuticals, assisted in mortuary efforts, educated victims on health related issues, and assessed damages and the needs of communities.  Most importantly though, we listened to their stories.  Each and every victim we faced, we listened.  A treatment better than any medication or bandage could repair.  We were the faces of the federal government to them, and we listened.  That was something you did not see on the news.  

There were so many improvements that need to occur at all levels of government in order to maximize resources and rescue missions after a disaster.  However, there are also things that are working and that did save lives after Katrina.  We should take this opportunity to learn from our mistakes and build on systems that were in place and effective.  I am so honored and fortunate to have been there to listen to the stories.