Katrina, Joplin survivors offer advice to Sandy victims
Sandy devastated millions of residents in the eastern U.S., including New York's Rockaway neighborhood.
Devastation
is devastation, whether a hurricane rips up your home or a tornado
takes the person you love most in the world. It's loss, shock and
confusion. It's anger and sadness and resentment. It's being flustered
like you've never been flustered before.
But it's going to be OK: Take it from the people who survived Hurricane Katrina and the Missourians from Joplin whose town was leveled by the worst tornado in U.S. history.
They want Sandy survivors to know a few things:
But it's going to be OK: Take it from the people who survived Hurricane Katrina and the Missourians from Joplin whose town was leveled by the worst tornado in U.S. history.
They want Sandy survivors to know a few things:
You're
probably on autopilot right now. You're moving through it. Stand in the
ruins of the life you had before the disaster. Understand that was
before. The after is when you're good and ready.
Hours will still go by though. Days will happen. You might not remember to eat because you're filling out paperwork and talking to insurance operators. You will get put on hold.
Your life will feel forever on hold.
At some point, when you think you're handling it, you will stumble on something that reminds you of that old life, maybe it's a thing or it's a memory. Maybe this will happen when you finally get the sleep you've gone without since the disaster. You're going to feel really, really awful again for awhile.
Make yourself anew
Eileen Romero still feels the weight on her chest. It has just gotten a little lighter in the years since Katrina. As a nurse, she saw heinous things in the hospital where she worked. Eight years on, it's hard to speak in full sentences without crying.
She watched the wall-to-wall television coverage of Hurricane Sandy, transfixed by the nurses who manually pumped air into newborns after carrying the infants down nine fights of stairs at NYU Langone Medical Center.
"I was right back in that hospital in New Orleans," Romero said. "I know those people. I felt that."
There are always burdens and rewards of being a caregiver. But in an emergencies, they are tenfold.
"They need to know it's going to be hard," Romero continued. "I mean, they saved those babies and they should feel good. But later it might hit them what they were able to get through just because they were trained to do that. And I would tell them, 'It's alright to be upset and to take time out to understand what you've been through.' "
It was comforting to Romero to watch the coverage of Sandy. While she was in the middle of Katrina, she didn't consider that it was the world's focus for days.
Website Link: http://articles.cnn.com/2012-10-31/living/living_disaster-survivors-advice-sandy_1_joplin-tornado-coverage
Hours will still go by though. Days will happen. You might not remember to eat because you're filling out paperwork and talking to insurance operators. You will get put on hold.
Your life will feel forever on hold.
At some point, when you think you're handling it, you will stumble on something that reminds you of that old life, maybe it's a thing or it's a memory. Maybe this will happen when you finally get the sleep you've gone without since the disaster. You're going to feel really, really awful again for awhile.
Make yourself anew
Eileen Romero still feels the weight on her chest. It has just gotten a little lighter in the years since Katrina. As a nurse, she saw heinous things in the hospital where she worked. Eight years on, it's hard to speak in full sentences without crying.
She watched the wall-to-wall television coverage of Hurricane Sandy, transfixed by the nurses who manually pumped air into newborns after carrying the infants down nine fights of stairs at NYU Langone Medical Center.
"I was right back in that hospital in New Orleans," Romero said. "I know those people. I felt that."
There are always burdens and rewards of being a caregiver. But in an emergencies, they are tenfold.
"They need to know it's going to be hard," Romero continued. "I mean, they saved those babies and they should feel good. But later it might hit them what they were able to get through just because they were trained to do that. And I would tell them, 'It's alright to be upset and to take time out to understand what you've been through.' "
It was comforting to Romero to watch the coverage of Sandy. While she was in the middle of Katrina, she didn't consider that it was the world's focus for days.
Website Link: http://articles.cnn.com/2012-10-31/living/living_disaster-survivors-advice-sandy_1_joplin-tornado-coverage
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