The date was Aug. 28, 2005, and, just like at organizations throughout South Louisiana, the leadership team at St. Tammany Health System huddled up to discuss preparations for the massive storm then taking aim at South Louisiana.
As they did, Judy Gracia – a former nurse then serving as the health system’s vice president of Human Resources – took detailed notes in a tidy cursive hand.
Much of the discussion focused on what one would expect for a hospital system facing a major natural disaster. With 134 patients in-house, the artesian-fed well was up and running, guaranteeing fresh water. Four days of fuel was on-hand to power generators, as was three days’ worth of food.
It was Gracia’s last entry of the day, however, that was the most interesting. Some might say haunting. It read simply, “9 a.m. – meet Monday – reconvene.”
Anyone who was around at the time remembers what happened next. At 6 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29, Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, bringing with it historic destruction and changing everything about life in South Louisiana.
Now, 20 years later, Gracia’s notes – which chronicled the health system’s daily meetings for the next two weeks – serve as a fascinating historical document, offering not only a reminder of the myriad challenges facing local residents in the wake of the storm but also providing a peek at the goings-on at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, where the health system’s everyday heroes faced extraordinary challenges.
“After the storm, St. Tammany was hailed as a ‘beacon of light’ on the Northshore,” health system President and CEO Joan Coffman said. “That was for two very good reasons. First, because unlike almost everywhere else, we kept the lights on. But also, the hospital really did serve as an oasis of hope for the community, thanks to the people who worked there, who stayed behind and weathered the storm so they would be here to care for the community when it needed them the most.”
A read of Gracia’s day-by-day Katrina diary, spanning the first two weeks after the storm, bolsters that statement.
Those in the hospital were resourceful. They were resilient. And they were inspirational, living and working at the hospital around the clock throughout what would be remembered as one of the most difficult chapters in the region’s recent history.
An entry on the day after the storm outlined one of the major challenges they faced in no uncertain terms: “Communication is a black hole.”
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Ham radio operators helped in that regard. The hospital also had electricity, thanks to its generators. Fortunately, floodwaters posed no real threat to it – so things were certainly better than on the south shore, where storm victims’ misery was being broadcast around the world.
Still, with little access to the outside world for news or supplies, hospital staffers essentially found themselves stranded on an island.
“Get diesel,” read one entry.
Immediately after it: “Get food.”
Two words scribbled next to those entries designated them “high priority.”
By that time, the hospital was on lockdown, with only colleagues, patients and family members allowed in. With local stores shuttered and fresh water at a premium, however, the hospital opened its taps to the public, providing potable water to all comers.
Inside the hospital, Gracia’s notes detailed the dwindling inventory of linens, of oxygen, of other things crucial for patient care. Although the generators kept lights on and critical instruments powered, there was no air-conditioning.
“Very hot – windows open,” Gracia wrote.
Things were far from normal – and even farther from ideal – but the hospital’s care providers were, indeed, providing care. That meant something, inside and outside the hospital.
“Physicians rallied,” Gracia noted. “Staff rallied.”
By 4 p.m. on that first day post-storm, the patient count had swelled to 154 – near capacity.
At 3 a.m. the next morning, Gracia noted a small but welcome treat: “Distributed animal crackers to ICU, CCY, NFC, NICU, 3E, ED, …”
Over the next several days, the hospital staff was buoyed by any scrap of good news. Two fuel trucks arrived on Day 2, ensuring the generators would stay on – for the time being. A day later, a U.S. Food truck made a delivery, as did medical suppliers, who brought in IV fluids and oxygen. Phone service returned.
Throughout the state, Louisiana hospitals offered whatever help they could to one another. Those outside the region sent so many personal supplies for staffers that St. Tammany leaders were able to set up a “free store” in a conference room so colleagues could get personal hygiene items, donated clothes and the like.
Still, progress was agonizingly slow. With estimates for the restoration of electricity to the area ranging from two to four weeks, and with a handful of businesses reopening, it was clear the recovery was going to be a long one.
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The St. Tammany Parish Hospital staff, on duty since the day before the storm, were in desperate need of relief. Hospital leadership made finding it a priority.
“Get staff back into somewhat normal routine – staff back to scheduled life,” Gracia wrote on Day 6.
With basic community services slow to return, the hospital set up a temporary daycare for the children of employees, to make it easier for them to return to work. To add to quality of life for those in the hospital – functioning then as its own self-contained city – a “movie night” was planned in the cafeteria.
With the return of elective surgeries, which had been suspended during the lockdown, all employees were expected back to work by Sept. 6. It had been eight days since the storm, but the cavalry was coming.
It would mark the beginning of what would be a long, hard recovery for the region. Even fully two decades later, much remains permanently changed.
One thing hasn’t, though.
“I found it interesting back in 2021 when Hurricane Ida hit us on the 16th anniversary of Katrina, to the day,” Coffman said. “Like a lot of people, the health system took a major hit – but, as was the case during Katrina, we demonstrated again that we were prepared to care for the community, through thick and thin, in normal times and amid disaster.
“We were ready,” she added. “We still are.”