Operation Hurricane Katrina

October 3, 2005

by Patrick Hendry

After several days at a RV park in Tallahassee waiting for Hurricane Rita to rumble through the Gulfcoast, we finally arrived in Waveland, Mississippi at around noon on Saturday, September 24. Despite some additional flooding from Rita’s eastern bands, Waveland didn’t look too bad as we drove in on State Road 603. The FEMA staging area at the K Mart shopping center on the corner of 603 and U.S.90 showed some signs of the 145 mph winds that Katrina brought but it certainly didn’t look as bad as I had imagined. Then I found out that everywhere I looked, every building and car, had been under water when the 21+ foot storm surge pushed by those winds intruded miles and miles inland from the gulf beaches. The entire K Mart and surrounding buildings had been completely under water.

A fellow Peer Crisis Counselor, Sue Litrell, and I, had come from Florida to assist a local community mental health agency, Gulfcoast Mental Health Centers Inc., locate the individuals they served and to provide peer support and crisis counseling for them and for folks having a difficult time in coping with the trauma and losses resulting from the disaster. Our experiences last year with Hurricanes Charley and Frances in our home towns of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte had given us some new insights into helping out in the aftermath. In those first weeks following the storms we realized how important it was for people with psychiatric disorders, who were sitting home alone, in the dark and heat, to have a safe, friendly place to go where they could talk, be listened to and relax. Consequently, we had brought a 22-foot RV to use as a mobile drop-in-center, a place with electricity, air-conditioning and television, a haven from the overwhelming realities of day to day life in the post Katrina world. We were fortunate to have the support of two wonderful organizations that made our trip possible. NAMI of Collier County, Florida provided the funds for the trip and to assist consumers in need. Hendry/Glades Mental Health Clinic Inc. provided the use of their RV, as they had following Hurricane Charley. The power of compassionate peer support in mental health care is well known and significant and the combined power of peer and professional partnerships is even more so.

As we explored more we realized that the devastation was overwhelming. Waveland Beach and Bay St. Louis were laid bare by the force of the massive surge. Entire homes were swept away, leaving only empty foundations and trees stripped of all foliage. Hundreds, even thousands of cars were strewn about like so many toys, boats were perched on trees and fence posts. On several occasions we saw large boats, a tug and some sailboats, sitting serenely in the woods, as if they had been moored there by their skippers. On Highway 90 we passed by a Burger King restaurant with a small pleasure boat pulled up to the carryout window. On a small creek, 15 miles from the Gulf we spotted a picnic table in a tree, 10 to 12 feet above the water.

For the next nine days we worked in shelters, food distribution points, financial assistance and food stamp lines and temporary medical centers, listening, talking and calming. Mostly listening. Despite the fact that it was four weeks after Katrina struck, many people were still dealing with the basic problems of where to go for shelter and food. Many were still, desperately, looking for their families and loved ones, who were often scattered across the state and, even, the country. Frustration levels were high and many folks were beginning to show early signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, (i.e. distressing dreams, difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilence and exaggerated startle response). As these people were identified we listened to their stories and referred them to the Licensed Mental Health Counselors at Gulfcoast Mental Health Centers. In Pearlington, a small town west of Waveland, we talked with many people who spent hours holding on to trees and roof tops. Several had to swim in the midst of the storm to save their lives.

Our primary goal was to locate individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and to assist them in linking to services, provide them with peer counseling and some degree of respite from their situations. On one occasion we assisted in finding a funding source to help pay for a person’s psychotropic medications, on others we helped connect people to long term services. In several cases we met people who had lost or run out of their medications and could not remember what or how much they were taking and sometimes, even, who their caregivers were. Many of the individuals with severe mental illness we encountered seemed less traumatized by the disaster itself and more effected by the disruption of services and supports. In fact, the people with psychiatric disorders almost seemed better emotionally equipped to deal with the experience, perhaps due to some way of filtering out the outside environment or increased familiarity with catastrophic events occurring in their lives.

The number of stories we heard was as varied as the number of people telling them. One man, a sailboat captain, told of swimming to catch up with his boat, which was drifting away. As he swam he said that two Nutria, small aquatic rodents, climbed on his back to rest. He told us that he swam to a tree where his hitchhikers climbed above the water to ride out the storm. Another man said that as he was struggling to swim to a distant tree, a pig swam up to him and oinked twice. He grabbed hold of the pig’s tail and was towed to safety. Others found boats drifting by and used them to rescue their neighbors. Several people in Pearlington were taken by boat to a local church that weathered the storm. When the waters subsided, two boats were wedged in the entranceway. A mental health counselor told of finding two loved ones who had drowned in their home with their arms wrapped around each other. Anguish and suffering, elation and relief were to be found at every line, shelter and meeting place. Above all, we found undeniable strength and resiliency. People supported each other at every turn and they remained steadfast in their efforts to survive.

We were the first mental health peer counseling team to go to the Mississippi coast, but we are certainly not the last. There is a national effort underway to provide trained peer crisis counselors in the aftermath of disasters. Consumers Organized for Recovery after Katrina (CORK) is working with consumer organizations in the effected states and the National Empowerment Center to fund and train teams to assist in the important recovery efforts that will be ongoing for years to come. More information on these efforts can be found at the N.E.C. website, www.power2u.org.

Patrick Hendry is currently the Coordinator of Advocacy Services and Consumer Affairs for the Florida Department of Children & Families’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Program Office in District 8.

After many years as a documentary filmmaker and later as a precious stone dealer, Patrick traveled and lived in countries around the world. In 1991 he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Within a short time his mother, brother and oldest son were also diagnosed. This was the impetus for a major career and life change.

In 1992 he co-founded the Mindmenders Foundation, an organization run by persons with mental illnesses that contracted with the State of Florida to run two drop-in-centers and teach Peer Counseling. Patrick served initially as the Co-Executive Director and later as the Executive Director until 1995. During the last fourteen years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association of Collier County and of NAMI of Collier County, a member of the Florida Human Right Advocacy Committee and an employee of NAMI, Lee County and NAMI of Collier County.

Patrick is a founding member and the First Vice President of the Florida Peer Network, an independent organization of and for people who are recovering from a psychiatric disability.

 

 

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Florida Peer Network, Inc., 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MHC 2505, Tampa, Florida 33612
Phone: 877-FLA PEER (877-352-7337) or 813-974-2851
Fax: 813-974-6411
Email: info@floridapeernetwork.org

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