In October 2011 Chris and I took a vacation to New Orleans. We fell instantly in love with the Crescent City!! You can read about our travels here, here, here, here, here, here and here. I have actually been looking into going back next year. I really wanted to go for Mardi Gras, which is also close to Chris's birthday, but the prices are just too steep for hotels. I'll figure something out!!
Last month, I read about a book that chronicled the happenings at a NOLA hospital during Hurricane Katrina and knew I had to read it. I guess many others read the same review because I had to get on the waiting list before I could get my hands on the book at our library!
We hadn't visited pre-Katrina, and we spent our time, mostly, in the French Quarter, which was unaffected by the hurricane and the resulting failed levees. But I remember the event and have seen photos & footage over the years (hard to believe it happened EIGHT years ago!). But N'awlins gets in your blood...well, for us, at least...when you spend several days with her!
Honestly, if it wasn't for the oppressive humidity, we would have considered a move there. We tried Tallahassee, so we know it's just not our type of lifestyle.
Side note, Chris could have taken a job in NOLA pre-Katrina! (This was the same time he was applying in Florida.) It was with a TV station and, even at that time, he was informed that during hurricanes, etc., he would have to remain there, while I evacuated. Um....that sort of sealed the deal for us! When Katrina and the aftermath came, we were both like, "We could have been caught up in that!" And I was like, "I would have had to take the cats and leave...you!!"
OK, OK...back to the book.
My number was finally up last week and I almost haven't been able to put the book down! It is so well-written, culling information from many sources (the book stemmed from a magazine article). It begins as Hurricane Katrina is barreling down on the city and follows the tragic and trying circumstances of the next several days within the confines of Memorial Hospital, its doctors, nurses, patients and the family members and pets of those inside. It encompasses the personal, the medical, the ethical of a microcosm under duress, be it perceived or real.
I had an Ethics class during my graduate studies and my professor had a background in nursing and law. I have emailed her to recommend the book for her AND for her students! She said she heard about it on NPR, but hadn't yet read it for herself.
I have 100 pages to go and, while I am looking forward to the conclusion (as with any book, be it fiction or non-fiction), I am going to be sort of sad to let it go (to the next voracious reader in the queue). It is an intimate look into New Orleans, one that I wouldn't want to have lived through, but that from which I am compelled to learn.
I hope you will "enjoy" it as much as me and that if you haven't yet visited the Big Easy, you will soon find yourself among her music, her food, her history and her people one day. It is well worth it!
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