Persevering Through the Storm: Educating Nursing Seniors in the Aftermath of Katrina

If I had to summarize my experience in two words, I would say heart ache. Heartache because I could not help each and every one or rewind time . . . I could not do either and that broke my heart.

—Dillard University Senior Nursing Student (DUSNS)

On August 29, 2005, native New Orleanians and the world watched as water surging from Hurricane Katrina began to breach levees and the rushing waters flooded homes of over a half a million people.¹ The nation glued its eyes to radios and television sets, listened and watched and wept as stranded neighbors, family members, friends, and fellow citizens struggled to obtain the necessities of life. The media depicted a fallen city with residents of all social levels asking for guidance and assistance in finding temporary shelter. Being stranded without the necessities of life and not knowing where to go, or when you would be able to return home left many confused, bewildered, and searching for a temporary home. Doubly traumatic was also seeing friends and family members go through the same experience. Senate hearings with Homeland Security produced cost projections for rebuilding in excess of the already allocated 62 billion dollars.²

More than 300 thousand former New Orleanians evacuated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the state capital.³ Among the evacuees were Dillard University Nursing faculty, nursing students and staff. Unable to return to the Dillard University's campus, which was located directly next to the London Avenue Canal, one of several levee breaches, the University's administration had to respond to the overwhelming crisis.⁴

Dillard University had long been admired for the classic beauty of its campus, where white-columned Georgian buildings stood among spacious green lawns. The expansive branches of many huge, old live oak trees shaded the buildings and walkways of the campus. Following Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levees, water surged onto the campus and into the surrounding community. For almost two weeks, the lawns, buildings, and trees sat submerged or partially submerged under about 10 feet of water. In the immediate aftermath, the campus could only be accessed from the air. Aerial views showed that the most extensive water damage had occurred in the rear of the campus, its lowest point. One building was a total loss, and others would need to be gutted and extensively repaired. In the front of the campus, although there was less water from the levees, the roaring winds and heavy rain of the hurricanes had ripped shingles from the roofs and left water in classroom buildings, computer labs, the library, the chapel, and administrative offices. Two dormitories caught fire and burned to the ground because fire service could not respond until the waters receded. Of the several universities in the New Orleans area, Dillard University sustained the greatest damage to its physical facilities. It was not possible to return to campus until September 2006.

Like other universities and nursing schools closed by Katrina, Dillard was left with the task of educating future nurses in the aftermath of a major disaster.⁵ The account given here reports the efforts of faculty and administration of the Division of Nursing at Dillard University to enable senior-level baccalaureate students to complete their coursework. The students' reflections concerning their unique learning experience are interwoven through the article.

Educating in Unfamiliar, Distant Environments

There were times of sorrow, but for the most part the spirit of New Orleans was alive.

—DUSNS

After Hurricane Katrina, Dillard University's administrators, including the Dean of the School of Nursing, relocated to Atlanta, Georgia. It was from this temporary headquarters that school officials continued to conduct the business of the University and make plans for future recovery. All classes had been cancelled for the fall semester and students in majors other than nursing had been admitted to other universities for the semester. The Division of Nursing and the Dillard administration acknowledged...