Raina77 says ...

This letter to the editor really touched my heart.  We, as nurses and nursing students, can sometimes carry an enormous burden with this sense of duty we have to our fellow citizens.  It can be easy to get disgusted with the "system" and with the lack of appreciation we experience, but even within the heart of every frustrated and exhausted nurse, love continues to stir within us compassion and determination.... unconditional love of people is what we are about.  God bless this woman, and all the other nurses who work countless hours to help folks less fortunate.  And God bless America, flaws and all!  Let's keep working for change!

 

Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN, volunteered her time to help Gustav evacuees at the shelter in Shreveport, La. During her volunteer hours she was required to be escorted by a National Guardsmen armed with an assult rifle to ensure her safety. In a letter to the editor of a south Louisiana newspaper, Hagerhjelm offers a unique perspective on evacuation centers:

Dear Editor,

I am a nurse who has just completed volunteer working approximately 120 hours as the clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter in Shreveport, Louisiana over the last 7 days. I would love to see someone look at the evacuee situation from a new perspective. Local and national news channels have covered the evacuation and "horrible" conditions the evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.


True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and the shelters need some modification.


At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or irresponsibility) of the evacuees?


Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone, charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their child's insulin?


Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate free refills on all medicines for which they cannot provide a prescription or current bottle (most of which are narcotics)?


Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot afford a $3 copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the shelter yet they can take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of Vodka, and return to consume them secretly in the shelter?


Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming evacuees so as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer staff and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol and weapons being brought into the shelter?


Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub emesis from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby, watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from the pillow to comfort her own son?


Why does it insense me to hear a man say "I ain't goin' home 'til I get my FEMA check" when I would love to just go home and see my daughters who I have only seen 3 times this week?


Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must find a way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay while the FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire free medications under the disaster rules?


Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter is paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during the day as the shelter provides a "daycare"?


Have government entitlements created this mentality and am I facilitating it with my work?


Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian if I hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked for 7 days being called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing for my personal safety in the shelter?


Exhausted and battered,

Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN

Yep.  Who among us can't relate, whether or not they have volunteered their time and energy to an evacuation site?  But, I have faith that good deeds don't go unnoticed.  Perhaps, just perhaps, there was a child who saw her hard work and took it to heart... we'll never know.  But, if we don't have faith in what we can't see, we just end up an emotional heap on the floor.  :-)

abelcas says ...

I'm sorry, but this post screams burnout. I can respond to each of those comments with alternative explanations, for example- failed system when an evacuee says they can't pay 3$ for meds then buys vodka? Try alcoholism, pretty unrelated to a failure of the system. And people forgetting their childs insulin and remembering their cell phone and cigarettes- probably keep those in their purse- I can't say that I'd remember to grab my childrens meds either- maybe they left with what they had on them. woman who just laid there while she cleaned up emesis? What about shock, depression, fear, not knowing what to do? Point is, this writer is classically angry and lost sight of the big picture and depersonalized the people she cared for. I'm not blaming her- relief work is hard and burnout happens quickly. I read this letter- its being circulated on the internet as an example of a failed sytem and held up as a symbol of poor people taking advantage of the system- that may or may not be the case- but this nurse needs to take a break and maybe a step back before she puts a letter like this one out there. She's lost sight of her patients as individuals and has made a whole lot of assumptions that may or may not be true.

Yeah... maybe I put too much of a positive spin on it.  But, I do want to give hope to all of us that, despite the abuses, we have to keep doing what we know to be right and good.  Because, without our efforts, the world is diminished.  And, we really do make a difference when we work to do good.  But, you make an excellent point.