Around midnight on September 22, 1989 Hurricane Hugo made landfall just north of
Charleston, South Carolina at Sullivan's Island as a Category 4 storm with
estimated maximum winds of 135-140 mph. Hugo produced tremendous wind and storm
surge damage along the coast and even produced hurricane force wind gusts
several hundred miles inland into western North Carolina. At the time, Hugo was
the strongest storm to strike the U.S. in the previous 20-year period and was
the nation's costliest hurricane on record in terms of monetary losses (~$7
billion in damage). It is estimated that there were 49 deaths directly related to
the storm, 26 of which occurred in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands.
http://www.weather.gov/ilm/HurricaneHugo
Imagine
how many nurses worked through the storm. Were they injured? Did they suffer
from PTSD? Did they receive mental health counseling following the storm?
Margot
Withrow and John Owen share vivid details of working through the storm.
“I was recruited to a hospital in
Charleston. I started on Monday with an eight-hour orientation and Hurricane
Hugo hit that Thursday. When the storm started to make the news the day before,
my dad called and urged me to come back home, but I felt I couldn’t “desert the
ship.” The travel company said they couldn’t ask us to stay and risk our lives,
but made a verbal promise of a $1,000 bonus if we stayed and worked. I stocked
up on Sternos and Vienna sausages.
When I went to work Thursday
morning, it was raining “cats and dogs.” I worked 12 hours, then took a cold
shower in an operating room and went to catch some sleep in a converted room on
a hospital ward. The windows were taped to prevent shattering. Transformers
popped like fireworks and cars were floating in the water.
In the moment before the power went
out, the TV announced that Hugo was here. The windows blew out, and I moved to
the hallway fighting back panic. The backup generators took over. While sitting
in a wheelchair in the hall with my head against the wall, I could feel the
steel beams moving. I felt I was going to die—oddly peaceful.
An elderly woman coded. The
elevators were out and she had to be carried up four flights of steps as
emergency response continued. The unit was crazy. Ventilators cut on and off.
The patients had to be manually bagged by lay staff and therapists.
In 40 hours, I had maybe 20 minutes
sleep and had to face another 12-hour shift. The lab had flooded and the ICU
had no windows. The head nurse hadn’t made it in due to the weather, so as the
RN, I was in charge of the ICU with six patients, all on ventilators. Of the
other two licensed practical nurses, one had no ICU experience and the other
had forgotten her blood pressure medicine.
The septic system had backed up and
the smell was awful. I wondered constantly what I had forgotten to do... And
then a freshly showered resident turned up asking for labs. I wondered where he
had been.
By Friday, the hospital had run low
on food but the roads were said to be passable. Trees were down and the
National Guard was out. It was like a warzone. I felt addled and disoriented. I
was off for the weekend.
While the hospital had generators,
my apartment was without power for three weeks. Some weeks later the travel
company sent a letter of commendation thanking all who had stayed and risked their
lives. The bonus was only $100.
After the Storm
In April, I began seeing a
therapist weekly, at first for weight issues but later with a diagnosis
of depression and PTSD. I did this on my own dime, picking up extra shifts to
cover. I had survivor’s guilt and often second-guessed myself, not to mention
suffering anxiety in thunderstorms. My insurance didn’t cover the therapy.
Because of the stigma associated with mental health issues, I feared losing my
job if I were to tell anyone.”
Read
more of this story written by Margot Withrow and John Owen in chapter 12 "One straw too many: Nursing through blood clots, depression and Hurricane Hugo" in The
Exceptional Nurse: Tales from the trenches of truly resilient nurses working
with disabilities
Please feel free to share your thoughts.
With thanks,
Donna
