During Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Louisiana State University Medical Center’s Charity and University Hospitals suffered fewer casualties than any of the other hospitals in the area. According Medical Director Dr. Cathi Fontenot only five patients died, all of whom were critically ill. Charity patients—the indigent, the poorest of the poor, people with no resources—were treated better than patients in any private facility.
Charity Hospital moves me. So much life, so much history, so much love in that institution. My dad was one of thousands of LSU medical center staff who waited out the storm inside of University Hospital, an annex of Charity. The five days of isolation affected people in different ways. Pat Adams, a housekeeper, says it took her months to recover. She was traumatized, but is now happy to be at home in the Bywater. One security officer told me he now smokes cigars and drinks the occasional Heineken, though he was a teetotaler before the storm. Everyone has nightmares.
Last December I began talking to hospital staff about their ordeal. During the five days the two hospitals waited to be evacuated, the patients always came first. Everyone helped in any way they could. Many nurses, appalled by the small amount of food allotted the patients (a bed-ridden person does not require very many kilocalories per day), shared their own rations, and later collapsed from exhaustion. One man who waited out the storm inside of Charity with his 15-year-old daughter told me they spent five days fanning patients.
During the storm, traditional roles went out the windows, which the CEO helped smash out with a sledgehammer for fresh air. Doctors carried patients up and down many flights of stairs, housekeepers fed patients, and one nurse took a boat to a friend’s hotel nearby to procure cigarette and candy bar rations that he shared with the rest of the staff. The storm cohered a family feeling already shared by many who had worked at Charity for years. Of course there were slackers, but by and large everybody rose above the norm.
After the storm, most employees got lost in the shuffle, understandable amidst the daunting feat of re-organization Charity faced by Charity administration. Many doctors were cited in local and national news, but no one mentioned maintenance staff, housekeepers or even nurses. Many employees received a notice in the mail that they had been furloughed, along with handsome financial compensation, but no thank you. In any case, Charity employees have never worked for gratitude. They’re there for two reasons, because they want to learn, and because they want to help.
Today’s Times Picayune reports that 44% of the LSU medical school graduates will stay to complete their residency at Charity. This number is down from 51% last year. All things considered, this is a small decline and ultimately geat news. The residents that have chosen to stay in New Orleans are the new Charity Hospital heroes.
