2005 Year in Review

Jean is coming home!

Jean Zinnen

Morrison public health nurse Jean Zinnen has volunteered along with two other women in our area to help with Hurricane Katrina victims.

(Updated 9-20-05.Late..Note, updates at bottom)

On Sunday, September 4, Jean made the decision to go after she consulted family, friends and her husband Mark who is on a fishing expedition in Canada.The American Red Cross placed an urgent nationwide notice looking for volunteers from state and local health departments to assist Red Cross personnel already in the hurricane affected areas.

Along with Jean will be Whiteside County Health Department Administrator Beth Fiorini and nurse Michelle Thompson of Sterling. They expect their initial tour of duty to be a minimum of three weeks and as of Monday (Labor Day) they still had no word as to where they would be assigned. They do know however that they will fly out of Moline, Illinois on either Tuesday or Wednesday and head most likely to New Orleans Louis Armstrong Airport.From there they will be transported to an area designated by the Red Cross.

Jean says she "has never been to New Orleans or any where on the Gulf." However she feels a strong need to help all of those helpless people she has seen on the news channels and says" I just have skills they can use and they need those skills right now."

(Note from the Editor:We hope to stay in contact via a variety of means with Jean, Beth and Michelle as they embark on this important humanitarian mission. We will post remarks, comments, pictures an whatever these three women can find time to send us of their daily work.)

(Editor Note 9-6-05. Jean has confirmed she flies out of Ohare Airport in Chicago on Wednesday September 7, flying to Houston where her group will then board an aircraft direct to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.)

(9-8-05)Jean landed in Baton Rouge on Wednesday and as of 9:00PM 9-7-05 had just arrived at a Walmart store in Baton Rouge. She is travelling with Beth and Michelle and they are together at the Walmart where they will spend Wed night. The store is a staging area for Red Cross volunteers and approximately 30 other nurses and medical personnel are already there and all expect to be assigned new destination points on Thursday.Jean stated their group has been told by the Red Cross they will be assigned to a shelter somewhere in the affected region but as of this evening still no idea where they will end up. Jean was not aware that three (3) Morrison firefighters had also volunteered to help relief efforts and coincidentally, the 3 are also in the Baton Rouge area. TC1 has an adjoining article about those firefighters.

(9-08-05)Jean called TC1 at 1:30 pm and informed us her group had just received their assignment. They are headed to Hammond, Louisiana which is home of Southeast Louisiana University. There they will work in a shelter for evacuees. On Wednesday night while in Baton Rouge at the Walmart they were surprised by a large group of New York City fire department firefighters who came in overnight and who are also awaiting an assignment. The NYFD bought pizzas for everyone in the Red Cross shelter and Jean said they were "a riot". As of 2:00 pm CST today they will be on the road to Hammond, LA and will report in as they get another chance.

(9-9-05)Hello, I have internet access! We didn't end up in Hammond. We stayed in Baton Rouge, but are at southern university. It is a shelter with a constant inflow and outflow of "guests". We are all housed at the basketball arena. the evacuees are on the basketball floor. This is an evolving site. But already one of the model shelters....we are told. It is quite well equiped with supplies of food, clothing, toiletries etc. We will be staffing the clinic here. An acute care clinic. Some of the staff/volunteers are evacuees also. Interestingly, our dr on site is from New Orleans. She has sent her children to New York and are awaiting news about their home. She has great compassion for the evacuee and a particular understanding. We are also going to start accessing the evacuees personal needs. Something they were unable to do, because they were understaffed with nurses. We are recieving people now who have been in the water for quite some time, and need to be particularly attuned to comunicable diseases. Disentary and cholera among others. There are 4 nurses now on site for approxiamately 250 evacuees. Which will climb again we are told in the next few days. I will be working 12 hours daily. We are sleeping in a room that contains trophys. We have cots and not much else, but it heaven to us. I should be able to check in daily. Love TO all!

(9-10-05)Jean called us after her 2nd full day working at the shelter and she was tired but feeling good,"I am really gratified I am using my nursing skills for this purpose, helping so many who need us".With that, Jean stated her and Beth are working the day shift and Michelle is working the night shift.The shelter is acting as a first stage stop for evacuees coming out of New Orleans via helicopter, ambulance or any other vehicle. The people they are treating are muddy, wet and increasingly looking tired and haggard as they are the ones who have been in their homes the longest.The shelter is also becoming increasingly a common stop for the media as they have seen Montel Williams and Reverend Al Sharpton along with the following of news organizations. Jean says they have plenty to eat for themselves although it seems there is an excess amount of "junk food" that is easily packaged and doesn't need refrigeration.She misses fresh fruit and vegetables. All of the Red Cross volunteers are working well together and they have 3rd and 4th year medical interns, a doctor from New Orleans is their lead.It is kind of bizarre she says that they have an extraordinary amount of insulin, but that is expected in emergency situations.She and the group are seeing lots of kids and the entire shelter moves very quickly in processing thru the people, it is a fast paced environment. They do have a couple of big screen TV's set up but a group agreement made them leave the news channels off.Interestingly, Thursday was the first day FEMA personnel arrived to sttart paperwork processing.Jean will continue to call daily and she says she is now able to log on to the internet. Her continuing story will be posted as the news continues.

9-12-05.Hello everyone, I am still exhausted, but awake enough to email tonight. I hope I make sense. I have slept somewhere different in this arena every night, so I am very disorganized and can't find this information. Last night we had an alert so I slept behind a concession counter. Don't forget we are in a basketball arena. I actually like it up there though. Tomorrow I am going out to a Walmart and I am sooooooooo excited!! It sounds like they may be shutting this shelter down in a couple of days and moving us to the River center. That shelter has 2,000 people and we have not been hearing great things about it. When they moved all these people around, they didn't take into account gang affilitations. So there are some difficulties. We only have 600, so the problems are smaller. I am not afraid, but sad what this will do to our people. The children are starting school tomorrow and we are getting their health needs met. It is so difficult to know that what little security they have can be crushed again with the decisions of higher ups. The powers that we don't know, that we have a little self contained community here, and we are all looking out for each other. They are suppose to come and look tomorrow at the shelter. We have a kitchen with every snack and beverage under the sun. The daily meals are brought in by a catering service. This morning everyone was excited about grits,eggs and bacon for breakfast. Many cajun dishes also. Lots of seafood. We have laundry sent out to a prison. And a whole department for clothing and shoes. People are donating things daily...blankets, clothes, medical supplies. We don't have many school items though. Backpacks, and all the writing materials. Some people are hoarding items, so things disappear quickly, but who could blame them. Some days this all seems surreal, and at times I feel like a refugee also, but I have a home waiting for me......... Oh, and Lewis Farrakan made an appearence today, fired everyone up. He is the head of the nation of Islam if you aren't familiar with him. Also had an amazing Baptist service this morning. Wonderful gospel singing. I love to hear from anyone, everyone. Just a little homesick... Just email me at jeanzinnen@hotmail.com Love to allllllllllllllll

9-12-05late. Jean called this evening after her usual 14 hour day working at the shelter. She had two great experiences today:1)She was the tour guide for Senator John Edwards and 2)She went shopping at a Walmart!

Senator Edwards was very gracious and let Jean give him and his entourage a tour of where she worked and he asked where she was from and of course she stated "Morrison, IL!"Her clinic continues to receive some very interesting and influential people wishing to see evacuees first hand and how the relief and volunteer efforts are proceeding. Jean was calling about 9pm CST and she was standing on the second floor balcony overlooking the gymnasium floor where over 600 people were laid out in rows of cots, she exclaimed "it is so unreal to look over all of this".The days remain very busy and the clinic is nonstop. Today they heard good news that their clinic will not be combined into another large one so they were relieved. They also were very happy today that children in the clinic went to their first day of school. Each was issued a back pack and a uniform (all children in Louisiana wear uniforms to school, both public and private)and then bused to individual schoools.Jean also at the end of her shift did something really special...went shopping at a Walmart close by!"I really enjoyed it as we have been working non stop for several days and the time away was gratifying".More evacuees arrive hourly and the National Gueard has a very strong presence at her clinic. Weapons are drawn at all times and orderliness is insisted upon.The people now coming in are very poor and many have diverse needs.Jean will stay in touch and although the days are long her first week is coming to end this Wednesday and time is passing quickly.

Updated 9-14-05 Hello everyone, We have made a big decision...for the importance of our mental health. We have moved our outdate to the 20th! The clinic is changing daily and is turning into more of a teaching clinic. Which is wonderful. We are still short nurses but have many medical students and drs. They are now looking into a mobile clinic so they can serve more people than just this shelters people. Changes are constant and fast here. Sometimes to the detriment of the people. But moving the people out of the shelter and on to the new start is most important to do fast. We have a bus coming tomorrow to move 44 people to atlanta. It was their decision if they desired to go. So...we are going to cut this to two weeks. It is a 12-14 hour work day, 7 days a week. Mentally and physically exhausting. The great thing is Saturday, Southern University is playing football here. The arena is surrounded by parrking lots and so there will be hundreds of tailgaters. The shelter has decided to join in and we are having a barbque and all that want to, get to go to the game!! WE have an end zone. I need to close now........just so darn tired Jean ps....I have really enjoyed the emails. Even though I cant respond to all personally, thanks for writing and keep them coming.

9-15-05I'm a little late emailing tonight. We had a fire emergency, for real. There was a dryer that overheated and set off all the alarms. The good thing was we were able to get everyone out, and in an orderly manner. I must admit I was quite nervous myself. There was a young boy of about 11 crying because the national guard were still inside. He was worried the building was going to fall down on them. I just can't believe this happened after they were just evacuated a couple of weeks ago. If these people don't have post traumatic stress disorder when this is all over....these poor children. It is just so much. Life for them is unreal and continues to be. I also worry about some of the young red cross workers. They have asssumed such a burden. On the other side of things, some of the residents are starting to get their money from fema and the red cross. Some have left the shelter. But it seems some are going to camp out until they can get back home. Sadly their homes are the ones that will be in the condemned area. It is a concern that by the time they should be moving, their money will be gone. Many of them are purchasing double size blowup mattresses? Matching bedding, etc.....the difficulty is on the one hand, that is allllll they have in the world. ON the other hand......use that money to GET OUT OF HERE. A shelter is no where to spend yours and your child's life. In Psychology they say there are steps of death, loss...denial, anger, if someone can list the rest let me know. Anyhow, many of these people are at the anger stage. They are directing that anger and frustration to us. And that is one of my concerns for the younger volunteers. But don't get me wrong. There are many people I have grown very fond of. Staff and residents. There are people searching for housing and jobs. That is why it is so HARD. And then the whole culteral issues... But I am way too tired to even discuss that. So I will sign off here in Baton Rouge, Southern university shelter. Night Jean Well....I hope I made sense? I

9-16-05. Jean called in today during her workday. She was tired and looking for a little break.The City Clerk of Chicago visited her shelter today and Jean was so busy she didn't even remember her name as she gave her the "shelter tour".The Red Cross shelter remains a busy place for evacuees but also visitors looking to see first hand the condition and stories of those leaving the New Orleans flood waters.

It is remaining very hot in Baton Rouge and Jean said "..how can these people live in this heat day and night and all year long?" The National Guard has been a major security factor for the Red Cross volunteers and Jean said they have helped many of the guardsmen with their health needs. One of the younger guardsman has "adopted" Jean and even gave her an "official" Employee of the Month badge she could wear proudly on her Red Cross vest. They even have placed a special signage in the parking lot for Jean's car to park. No one seems to mind that Jean has no vehicle while in Louisiana and about the only vehicles are humvees and ambulances driving thru. Does this sound like a "MASH" episode?

The number of evacuees has gone down to about 350 but they will see another little rise in population as some of the area church shelters are beginning to close and consolidate into the shelter Jean is at.They currently are beginning to train new Red Cross volunteers for the time when Jean and Beth and Michelle will leave on Tuesday September 20.On Friday night they are watching the adjoining parking lot fill up with RV's and campers as the first football game will be held at the stadium across the lot at Southern Louisiana University. The college has given all the Red Cross volunteers free passes to the Saturday college football game. A tradition of tailgating at Southern gives these tailgaters Friday privileges of parking on the Friday night prior to the Saturday game and you need a ticket to be there. So Jean's group has been told they can mingle Friday and Saturday with the tailgaters and eat all the Cajun food they can stuff in for free.(Editor note: Do we expect Jean to be about 225 when she returns?)They are looking forward to the game as a time of relaxation.

Also, Jean is planning to take a few hours on Monday, after training the new nurse volunteers and go into New Orleans and one of the parish's that has just opened up. She would be able to take some pictures there as it is against the law to take pictures of any of the people she is currently treating.

Editor Note:We(Thecity1.com) intend to have a final "at home" interview with Jean and the 3 Morrison firefighter as soon as we can get all of them together upon arriving in Morrison so as to get their thoughts regarding their efforts in Louisiana.

9-19-05.I have heard from a few of you that Paint the Town was great! I want to thank my husband Mark for assuming all of my responsibilities for the event. I knew it was all in very capable hands. I can't wait to see the pictures! I also see the firemen have returned home. THANKS for all the work you did down here. I know the people are very grateful. As my times is winding down here, I find myself thinking about all of the wonderful people I have met, and worried about what will happen to them. Praying they will get out of this shelter soon. We did have a great day with the football game. Southern University is an all black college, so we were able to experience great southern food and hospitality. They fix chicken and catfish like I have never tasted before ...mmmmmm. Everyone thanked us for the assistance we are giving. Which was very nice, but most important was the FOOD! THen we all walked to the game together. They gave us all blue and yellow pompoms. ANd we rooted for southern. They won 48-0. But it was the band that stole the show. If anyone has seen the movie drumline, well, I was able to see it live. We all had a great time and I got to hold some of the younger children. One of the disappointing, but understandable things of shelter life, is we are banned from taking pictures of the residents. But I hold a picture of so many of them in my heart. One more day of work, then New Orleans on Monday, and then home...to my family and my own bed!!!!!!!!! Love Jean

9-20-05.Tomorrow afternoon we are flying out of baton rouge and straight to chicago...then home to a shower and bed! But I wanted to let you all know we did make it to New Orleans today. A first year med student wanted to go down and get some things out of his apartment. Because we were Red Cross workers, we were waved through all the checkpoints. It was also better to go with someone who knows the city. There are not words to discribe the devastation. Seeing it on the news and seeing it firsthand...it was overwhelming. Miles and miles and miles of downed trees and flooded homes. Streets that are impassable with downed wires, abandoned boats and cars. Desolate streets and neighborhoods, very eerie. We also saw the superdome and convention center. Finally ending in the french quarter. Burbon street was lined with dumpsters, but few people. The people we did see were national guard, army, navy, firemen, parametics and police. There was little looting in the area, and no flooding. A couple of blocks with electricity. One sex shop and two bars open. Oh, and a domino's truck with a complete oven passing out free pizzas to all the relief workers. They had a sign that said to date, 10,000 pizzas have been given out. I took so many pictures and will try to post them when I return home. Oh, and our friends apartment was fine, except for the maggots in the kitchen. AND we didn't open the fridge because you could smell it with the door closed. The stench all over the city started about five miles from the city limits. Now I need to decompress and sleeppppppp........ Thanks to all of you for your wonderful support. I am proud to be from Morrison, Illinois See you all soon, Love Jean

by  Editor, theCity1.com
September 16, 2005