A team of three physicians and three nurses from Covenant met with a group of PA’s and PA students from Mid Michigan University to offer medical relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Covenant team consisted of Tom Raskauskis (director of OB/GYN), Hooshmand Nightingale (EM-3), Mark Sandoval (EM-1), Jerry Curtis RN, Lori Redvar RN and Ben Roth RN. On Friday, September 9, 2005 the group traveled to Poplarville, Mississippi (meeting the Mid Michigan crew half way down) to relieve the medical staff of the Pearl River County Hospital and Nursing Home.
After a 23-hour road trip, the group quickly set up a pharmacy from donated items and manned an after-hours clinic that had been turned into an emergency department. They saw patients in the emergency department from 8am to 10pm as well as covered patients in the 25-bed hospital and 100-bed nursing home. The team also saw patients in the county jail and the local Red Cross shelter, and set up a clinic in nearby Lumberton, Mississippi. The members of the team also had the opportunity to visit some of the coastal towns of Mississippi that were totally devastated by the hurricane.
On arrival, FEMA was contacted by Tom Raskauskis, who was immediately named Medical Coordinator for the Pearl River County medical relief. The team was the only medical relief team in the county recognized by FEMA when they arrived.
The most vivid memories from the trip included seeing the vast devastation and damage caused by the hurricane, treating patients who had lost everything except the clothes they were then wearing, hearing the stories first-hand of those who had lived in attics and cut their ways out onto the roof to survive, and treating those who had lost all, including loved-ones. This was an invaluable experience for all involved, and will undoubtedly influence each of their medical practice as they remember what they encountered in their week of service.

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