Biloxi/Hurricane Katrina Trip Update Part 2

My Top 3

The crew in Mississippi has continued to enjoy beautiful weather and offer multiple methods of outreach to the communities in Southern Mississippi affected by Hurricane Katrina. We continued home visits, as well as home repairs with Habitat for Humanity. Several students from the Schools of Nursing and Social Work set up a make-shift clinic at the local volunteer fire department in Pearlington, Miss. Students checked blood sugars and took blood pressures to screen for hypertension, and they also did some patient teaching and provided social services to the 12 residents who came to the clinic. On Wednesday afternoon the entire group took the bus to New Orleans. We toured the areas of the city that were devastated when the levies broke and flooded the city. It was an eye-opening experience for the group to see the continued devastation and destruction left by the storm. It was a great opportunity to see the more televised aspects of the storm as they are now. Students were struck by the remaining amount of work and reconstruction New Orleans faces in the future. We all sampled traditional New Orleans fare at dinner in the French Quarter. It was a great evening!
We have one more day of work tomorrow and will, then, be boarding the bus. We plan to drive through the night and will arrive in Chapel Hill early Saturday morning. It’s been a great trip!