Baton Rouge Advocate staff writer ELLYN COUVILLION writes:
After the tsunami struck Asia in December, a California nurses' union was able to send only six nurses to Sri Lanka to help. The organization wasn't able to get through the maze of red tape with major relief organizations to be able to send more volunteers, said a union representative.
After Hurricane Katrina hit, the union took matters into its own hands.
"We started making calls all over New Orleans," said Liz Jacobs, who works in communications with the California Nurses Association. At the same time, the union began to e-mail both member and nonmember nurses in California with a call to help the hurricane victims.
"We had nearly 1,000 volunteer," said Jacobs.
Through telephoning, a CNA staff member found Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge, which was taking in patients evacuated from Charity and University hospitals in New Orleans. "Almost within a matter of days, our (patient) census had doubled," said AJ Varner, director of nursing for Earl K. Long. The hospital's staff nurses were picking up extra shifts after the hurricane, but, said Varner, "You can only go so far before productivity and alertness begin to suffer. You have to get relief." "We call them our California angels," said Varner. (read more)
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