News Service

Notes from Louisiana

by Gene Deisinger
(Deisinger, an Iowa State University police commander, is in charge of health services for Hurricane Katrina victims and Red Cross staff working on the disaster.)

Sept. 22: What's important

It's Thursday, September 22nd at 9:30 p.m. It's been a long day here.

Getting ready for Rita

Many of the plans today involved protecting staff and evacuees for possibilities regarding the landfall of Hurricane Rita. We are about an hour east of the farthest eastern edge of the projected landfall for Rita. The most likely landfall is several hours west of us. We are currently under a tropical storm warning. Our local friends here say that most likely means we'll have heavy rain, moderate winds, maybe gusts up to 70 miles per hour and rainfalls that result in what the local people call a "white out," which can make travel very difficult.

We are in the process of consolidating our Red Cross staff into a variety of evacuee shelters -- the biggest reason is for staff safety. I will be reassigned beginning Friday morning to the Houma (La.) Civic center in which there are several hundred evacuees, many from the New Orleans and Jefferson Parish area who have been at that center since it opened just after the initial disaster.

We will continue to work with evacuees and with staff to try to help people. We're seeing that many people who suffered through the initial ravages of Hurricane Katrina are understandably concerned regarding Hurricane Rita and the potential impact that may have here, although at this point, it appears we are in a safe area. Should that change, Red Cross and local authorities will initiate an evacuation and move evacuees and Red Cross volunteers to an area well north of the area likely to be impacted.

'Blessed' in adversity

It's really been incredible, continuing to have opportunities to work with people.

One gentleman here -- I can't remember if I've shared this with you -- he's sheltered here in the same location at the First Baptist Church in Houma where the Red Cross staff are. He is a person displaced from Katrina from the New Orleans/Jefferson Parish area. On my arrival here the first night I was quite tired and rather offhandedly, I have to admit, I asked him how he was doing.

He looked me straight in the eye and in a very soft but gentle voice, he said, "I'm blessed, I'm just truly blessed." That caught my attention. And I stopped and ... the man was wearing clothes he'd obviously been in for a long time and was disheveled, but there was a peacefulness about him. I stopped and talked with him a bit. He told me that he'd lost his home, in the floods and the devastation in the area just outside of New Orleans.

He and his family had been evacuated to the site here. Of course he is separated from his work, he's lost his home and his vehicles. But he said, "God has blessed me for my family are all alive. I'm here." He pointed to the shelter where we would both be living and said, "I have a roof over my head and God shall provide."

It brought a lump to my throat and it does now even as I tell you -- this man and his incredible humility as he shared with me what he'd been through. He considered himself blessed, for he and his family were alive and being taken care of.

This man who has lost all ... and I have a home, a job to go back to. My family is intact. I have beautiful children and a wonderful wife. So if he's blessed, what am I? It struck me on a very personal level. For this man, in all his humble surroundings, to consider himself blessed ... it's really made it clear to me what's important in life, and it's just one example of time after time the incredible strength and the struggle the people of this area have been through.

A precious moment

The staff here working on the front lines have just been extraordinary. They are deeply committed to helping people here. It's just an honor to work alongside them. This morning I had an opportunity to go down to another area about 40 miles south of here, closer to the gulf -- a little town called Larose (La.), where the community is sheltering people displaced by the original storm.

And there was a little girl sitting there in the shelter, all alone. I went up and talked with her a little bit and she held my hand. She's there with her parents and she was just so beautiful and so happy ... because she was with her family and there were toys, and we played and we talked for a little bit. It was a precious moment. And many of us time after time comment on the beauty of the people here and their spirit.

Thanks, Ames and ISU

I am well and I am safe. To all of our friends who have inquired about how I am doing here, thank you for your support. Thank you for your concern extended to Maureen and for the messages I've received. I was finally able to check my e-mail and it was nice to be able to do that. Thank you to all of the community of Iowa State and Ames. I'll talk with you again soon and I'll be in touch as I can.

Gene Deisinger

Iowa State University's Gene Deisinger, a clinical psychologist and commander of the special operations unit of the ISU Police, is spending several weeks in Louisiana, where he is in charge of health services for both Hurricane Katrina victims and Red Cross workers.