[Charity Kabari]

The challenges that Sheri Frank must have faced in order to craft this book was collecting information from traumatized witnesses. Interviewing people that may not have the mental capacity to relive the events in enough detail for Sheri to descriptively form her book. Sheri Frank would be challenged to tell a story based on everyones perspectives not just the health providers because that was not the only perspective that was important. The families and patients played a strong role and were going through the event just as much as providers and their voices and stories needed to be heard just as much. The last challenge I can think of is the reaction from the public and the metaphoric stoning of her with the events that were happening in the story of nurses fasting the passing of patients and controversy of whether it was wrong or right.
The questions I have now about hurricane Katrina and how it relates to the area and hospital when reading the first two chapters is what made them wait so long to implement structures that were suited for the land mass they were on and the weather? I believe some Doctors were put in those predicaments because they didn’t want a patient that was very ill and close to passing already to experience an even worse quality of life that they were already living. The other reason could be because they may have been out of supplies to aid those patients that were already on their last leg. Today we were learning about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and maybe in their head they felt that if we can’t even provide safe shelter, food and medication maybe it’s best to end it all for them. If I was the Nurse on that floor I would leave it up to the patient and allow them to make the decision on their own. I have heard that in Maine if you are terminally ill you can opt into assisted ( S word ) to pass on. I believe that everyone should have the right to choose even if you believe that a different option is what is best for them.In these very traumatic situations I would not like to be responsible to “pick their poison”. I would feel so much happier and sane to know that my patient chose what THEY felt was right for them.
The people that were given exemptions from the mediatory evacuation was patients and medical professionals and other essential workers because they sometimes couldn’t be transported safely. Other things that were done during this time that was significant was collecting food, records and medication while the water was raising at the hospital. Everyone and everything had to be brought up to higher grounds in the hospital.
The “old knowledge” is what I believe is about the nievitcy and lack of preparedness that the hospitals had and the community had for these types of disasters.

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