Tim Serban, director of spiritual care at Providence Everett Medical Center, went to Baton Rouge, La., to help Hurricane Katrina victims. Here are excerpts from e-mails Serban wrote:
Tuesday, Sept. 6
“I made it to Baton Rouge and have been very involved at headquarters assessing the over 100 shelter sites. One of the largest shelters, Riverview Center, is downtown and has over 5,000 evacuees. I visited this center yesterday and was overwhelmed with the view of so many people who have almost nothing. I sat with one elderly woman who was in a wheelchair and needed surgery on her foot since last week but was yet unable to see a surgeon.”
Wednesday, Sept. 7
“(The) challenge for disaster spiritual care is the feeling of standing in a bucket of quicksand in a field of quicksand.
“Stories of survival, one young man who was from Puerto Rico, speaks of rescuing 100 people in his neighborhood and still can’t sleep because he sees thefaces of the children and families he could not save.
“A 500-bed hospital field unit (is) on the floor of the LSU basketball court. Admitting, medical records and triage were three simple tables right next to each other. One week and they are living the loss of all but their identity, yet that is even threatened.”
Saturday, Sept. 10
“Today, I was called in to downtown New Orleans to provide urgent support to the men and women in the thick of it … Driving through the streets over power lines and under fallen streetlights was harrowing. The massive destruction is felt far before you reach the city. The humidity and lack of life in a city is sobering and deeply disturbing.”
Tuesday, Sept. 13
“Clearly I have encountered more destruction than could be imagined. I spent Sunday embedded with the disaster mortuary team. Our work is to basically keep those on auto-pilot. It’s nearly opposite to the work we are called to doin spiritual care, which is to explore with people the depths of their emotions and feelings.
“In the field, we have to keep them emotionally focused on the task at hand. Any delving can quickly unravel a competent caregiver and place a huge strain on the team doing the work.”
Later that day:
“The images that float for me today are those of people who care, stories of survival against all odds.
“A pastor whose church is underwater, not by a foot or 2 feet, but in the height of the storm, his 35-foot cross on the top of his steeple was underwater.
“Another man looked out his front door and saw the huge wall of water coming toward him, so he held his puppies and went to the back of the house and held on as he watched the house sway. With a huge force he described the water bursting the door open and a 5-foot alligator came in with the storm surge, swirling and flipping. He ran out of his house, into his boat and waited for the water to rise.
“After starting his engine and two attempts to get over the fence, he made it into the street and helped get 25 of his neighbors to the levee in St. Bernard Parish. And the humbling work continues.
“Together we led 56 people ‘home,’ a home much greater than here. And in a few weeks from now, they will be identified and the sleepless nights their families share tonight will be a bit less uncertain because they will know that theirlost ones have been found.
“I pray their grief will be assuaged knowing that we prayed this simple prayer when each and every one of them was found:
“We give thanks for this person’s life. We give thanks that this person was found. We give thanks for the persons that found them. We ask that they may be made whole in God’s arms. And that they know peace.”
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