Responding to disaster: Flood in North Dakota

Responding to disaster: Flood in North Dakota

Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Briefings Responding to Disaster: Flood in North Dakota Mary J. Wilhite, RN, EdD, Mary L. H...

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Journal

of the American

Psychiatric

Nurses Association

Briefings Responding to Disaster: Flood in North Dakota Mary J. Wilhite, RN, EdD, Mary L. Haberman, MSN, and Cheryl Macejkovic, RN, MS

and re-

RN, CS,

This article describes responses of three faculty members of the College of Nursing at the University of North Dakota to the flood of 1997 that forced total evacuation of Grand Forks, North Dakota, a town of 50,000. Each writer made her own observations and responded in her own way. One worked as a volunteer with the Disaster Mental Health Services of the American Red Cross. Another describes her participation in her rural community’s relief activities. The third writer describes survivor guilt and student, staff, and faculty postflood activities.

NOT FOR WIMPS The man who invented the head bolt heater (now simply a block heater) lived in North Dakota. Despite the use of this device to make starting cars easier on subzero mornings, it has been noted that North Dakota is not for wimps. This sentiment has never been more evident. This article describes the responses of three faculty members of the College of Nursing at the University of North Dakota (UND) to the devastating flood of 1997 that forced the total evacuation of a town of 50,000 people, Grand Forks, North Dakota. Each faculty member has her own

&lay J. Wilhite is an Associate Professor in the College of Nurshg at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, Notib Dakota. May L. Haberman is an Assistant Professor at Creighton University School of Nursing in Hastings, Nebraska. Cheryl Macejkovic is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Collegeof Nursing at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Repm’nt requests: May Wilhite, R& EdD, UND College of Nursing, Box 9025, Grand Forks, ND 58203. JAm Psychiatr Nurses Assoc (19971. 3,157-165. Copyright 0 1997 by the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. 10 78-3903/9 7/$5.00 + 0 66/l/84930

October 1997

perspective, made her own observations, sponded in her own way.

WORKING WITH THE AMERICAN RED CROSS During the winter of 1996-1997 there was a pervasive “knowing” that all the snow would mean ominous flooding. In response to this, I met with another Red Cross Mental Health team member in February to identify and anticipate needs. We decided a prevention approach would be a good addition to the typical disaster response actions. With input from the Red Cross executive director in Fargo, we created the concept of “Buddy Bags.” A Buddy Bag was a plastic bag filled with items that could be used by individuals in shelters to help with diversion. A label identified the Red Cross efforts and also indicated for which age group the items were suitable: children, youth, and adult. We wanted to promote a person-to-person approach, so it was requested that children include a personal letter to a child victim of the flood. We gave suggestions for what to include in the letter, such as a statement of empathy (e.g., “I’m sorry you’ve been affected by the flood”), a statement of hope (e.g., “I hope you are able to recover quickly”), and a joke. In addition, the label had room for the name of the individual preparing the bag. To distribute the bags for filling, an announcement was aired on a local television station. The day after the evacuation of Grand Forks, I received 40 calls on my answering machine from individuals and representatives of children’s groups, churches, day care centers, and schools who wanted to create more “Buddy Bags.” Calls came from as far away as Minneapolis. This was my introduction to the flood of 1997. When LJND announced that the semester was officially over, I felt lost and at first did not believe the report. Accepting that I no longer had a teaching role, I volunteered to do field work with the disaster mental health services of the Red Cross. The first day workers from the national team were just beginning to arrive at headquarters in Fargo, 75 miles south of Grand Forks. The initial phase of disaster response is likely to be chaotic, and this time it was particularly so because the scope of the disaster was so much larger

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Grand Forks. Photo courtesy

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Grand Forks.

than any of us had anticipated. Where do 50,000 people real name) a hand.” Shirley was among the first mengo when required to evacuate? Where do you begin tal health responders from out of town and had been to offer care and services for this many people? Vicworking up to 15 hours a day since the service center tims began to appear at the headquarters service cenopened. She was obviously stressed as indicated by ter in Fargo immediately. her short-term memory impairment, frantic air, inapThe first person I assisted came disguised as a helper. propriate laughter, and frequent requests for reassurShe pushed her way through the checkpoints to the ante. She stated she had been working alone for 3 mental health section of the headquarters where I was days, and this was her first Red Cross disaster experianswering the phone. She told me that she had a lead ence. Our role in disaster mental health services is to on every kind of psychiattend to the needs of atric medication we the workers first, and I Where do 50,000 people go when might need. She indispent time listening and offering gentle cated that she had conrequired to evacuate? feedback. Shirley was nections to the heads of pharmaceutical compaused to her role as a counselor in private practice but was suffering now nies, and I should just “say the word” and she would see that donations poured in. She was quite demandfrom role strain, high accountability without much ing of attention and response; I thought her offer was power to change things, and loss of self-esteem. I enwonderful. However, as I explored how we could accouraged her to take a day off and promoted this incess the assistance, I learned from the seasoned Red tervention with the Red Cross officer in charge. That day I also “schmoozed” the crowd and touched base Cross staff that Red Cross does not dispense medications and that this sort of grandiose offer is common with the other workers in the service center. I also in the early phase of a disaster. When I offered a stuffed touched base with victims, distributed Buddy Bags, animal to the 5-year-old child this victim had with her, and repeatedly breathed deeply to prevent feeling overthe child was told, “No, you can’t have that! It is for whelmed by the immediate needs of so many people. the children who lost all their toys. I guess I will have Wide eyes, drawn and drained faces, and slumped to take you to a shelter so you can see the children shoulders depicted people’s understanding of the lived suffering.” I was shocked by this shaming response, human experience. Their verbal imagery was an obviand it dawned on me that there are “invisible victims.” ous path to knowing, also. Like the river, people reThe next day I was directed to work in the service ported feeling “out of control!” Other words used to center, My instructions were to “give Shirley (not her describe feelings were “overwhelmed,” “deluged,” L

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“Virtual

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set up to keep in touch with staff, students, faculty, and public during and after the flood. Photo courtesy of University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

“swamped,” soaked with fatigue,” or “dampened spirAlso and above all, each helper, regardless of role, its.” The evacuation was repeatedly described as “like must attend to her or his own well-being first by geta war zone,” with “sirens blaring at 3:OOa.m. and heting adequate fluids, nutrition, exercise, and interpersonal support, licopters flying over the city.” It was clear that persons would later reexperience these traumatic impressions, The “world view” here in the Red River Valley inand we regularly explained this to them. eludes a belief that “if I work hard enough, I can do Seeing colleagues and officials from UND in the anything.” As the prosperity of the Valley demonstrates, service center created a deep sense of vulnerability this belief has been effective. This belief fueled the in me. I was often reminded of a phrase my father filling and distribution of millions of sandbags. Scores used frequently, “Except for the grace of God, there of adults and children worked day after day for weeks go I.” It was many days to prepare for the deluge. There was warning as the after my service center activity that I let myself I coped by talking with close friends riverandOverland floodbecome aware of being ing tried to inundate who were not as active/y involved in Fargo several days before a victim myself. In one of those “dawned on reaching Grand Forks. response activities. me” experiences, I reDespite backbreaking alized how I resented and heartbreaking labor, having no work to go to; how angered I felt by havit was not enough-the dikes did not hold. The poing the relationships with students so abruptly and tential for spiritual distress increases because the funcruelly interrupted; how scared I was that I was physidamental and usually useful “hard work” belief failed cally unable to get to work because the interstate this time. was di.ked and the whole city of Grand Forks was Despite the failure of the “hard work” belief, people without potable water or electricity, and how helpcoped by using the “at least” phenomenon. I, for exless I felt because of the scope of the disaster. I knew ample, thought I could “at least” help by sharing proall these feelings were normal, yet knowing that was fessional skills and human energy. I heard “at least we have our home; ” “at least we didn’t lose the car;” “at little comfort. The feelings needed to be experienced and expressed and let go of so I could go on. I coped least we got out with the family pictures;” “at least our by talking with close friends who were not as acfamily is alive.” Nonaffected persons said, “at least I tively involved in response activities. can open my home to those poor souls who lost evI have come to realize it is important to remind erything”; “at least I can prepare meals for the shelthose not so actively involved in response activities ters”; “at least I can donate my sick time for my colleague”; “at least I can clean out my friends refrigerator that they, too, are playing an important role by supporting the people who are closer to the front line. before she comes home.” October

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Sandbagging

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near Smith Hall dormitory.

Psychiatric

Photo courtesy

As mental health professionals, we are aware of problems that may arise as a result of disasters, and I frequently mentioned to victims that they may find themselves more irritable and even be tempted to be abusive to their partner or children. Even so, I was shocked to hear, over and over, “Oh, that is so true. I have been horrible to my partner’s kids,” or “we have been fighting so much since this whole thing started.” This is, of course, understandable as a human response to intense stressors. In this case the stressors were genuine threats to the integrity of people’s physical safety and also threats to the “usual and predictable” processes of life. After a remarkably prolonged cold and snow-filled winter, people’s coping skills had been tested to the limit and beyond. As people began returning to their homes in early May, they were face to face with the awful devastation that directly affected two thirds of the homes in the city. Some homes had been invaded by sewage, oily sludge, and mud. People began talking about the insidious fear of the disaster repeating itself. The enormity of losing home, work, routine, and precious items and the simple gratitude of being alive created a deep human crisis wherein people will reorder their priorities and recreate meaning. The people of the Red River Valley will do this individually, and they will do it together. Their characteristic resilience and sensitivity to human needs will allow them to go on. -Mary L. Haberman 160

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A COMMUNITY RESPONSE North Dakotans often are characterized as stoic, used to adversity, and able to meet the challenges of the cruel elements. After living in North Dakota for more than 20 years, I believe that trying to meet basic human needs can become a full-time endeavor. I also have realized that our internal and external environment affects how we respond to those needs. The winter of 1996-1997 included eight major blizzards; the last one in the Red River Valley was accompanied by a 5-day power outage during subzero temperatures. More than 100,000 head of livestock were killed this winter, but we knew even worse might be coming in the form of major flooding as the record snows melted. In Grand Forks the threat took on reality with a predicted crest of 49 feet, 21 feet above flood level. Preparations for battling the flood included filling millions of sandbags, adding 3 feet to the dikes along the river, building new dikes in several neighborhoods, and sandbagging individual homes. I live in Mayville, 40 miles southwest of Grand Forks, commuting daily to my job at the UND College of Nursing. By the second week in April, overland flooding had closed a major access into town. On April 16, UND classes were canceled at 2:00 p.m., and President Kendall Baker urged students, faculty, and staff to volunteer as sandbaggers, dike walkers, and for other activities. Class schedules had been changed often throughout the winter because of blizzards, and this cancellation did not seem unmanageable. I had al-

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North campus is engulfed in floodwaters. of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

ready decided my lecture on basic human needs could be pushed back a week. Little did I know that my students and I would all “cover” this content in the field. Classes were canceled again on April 17 (Thursday) for the remainder of the week. But the river had become “boss,” already up to 52 feet and eventually rising to 54 feet. The dikes could no longer contain the water in its narrow channel. By early Saturday morning, April 19, total evacuation of all 50,000 Grand Forks residents was recommended. For all but a tiny portion of the city, the evacuation was mandatory. The question was, though, where do 50,000 homeless people go in rural North Dakota? Even the shelters already open in Grand Forks would be closing with the mandatory evacuation orders. The major shelter outside the city was at the Grand Forks Air Force Base, 15 miles west of Grand Forks; eventually more than 3,000 people went there. But many residents fled to friends and families in rural communities whose populations increased dramatically in a few hours. Imagine a town of fewer than 5,000 with another 1,000 people arriving to stay for up to 2 weeks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognized a unique situation, and each of the rural communities responded uniquely. I thought I had escaped the flood and its effects, but instead I experienced its overflow. I could not help thinking of my canceled lecture, and my understanding of basic human needs took on new meaning October 1997

Nurses Association

Photo courtesy

of

I thought I had escaped the flood and its effects, but instead I experienced its overflow. as my own rural community responded to this emergency. A mile west of Mayville is Portland, North Dakota; both communities, often referred to as May-Port, responded with true North Dakota spirit. People began arriving in our small community at approximately 2:00 a.m. Saturday. They had been advised by Grand Forks Emergency Operations Center officials not to bring much. In their haste and disbelief, many people packed bags that contained few of the necessities of everyday life. They looked shellshocked; their expressions still haunt me. All I could think was that this only happens on the 6:00 news. It is only recently that I have begun to assimilate the event as a whole. Two families, long-time friends, arrived at my own home at 2:00 a.m. With the 3:30 a.m. arrival of one of my sons who lived in Grand Forks and attended UND, our “family” had grown to lo! At 7:00 a.m. FEMA declared the Campus Center at Mayville State University in Mayville a Flood Relief Center. By Sunday Mayville University had been mobilized and the FEMA Flood Relief Center was fully operational, with a very personal and unique touch. As one entered the Campus Center a large banner proclaimed, Wilhite, Haberman,

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“Welcome Grand Forks Friends!” Beneath the banner goodbyes, they quickly left the campus to make room was a table with a table cloth, fresh fruit, and an asfor the new friends. As a matter of fact, those students sortment of liquid refreshments, including coffee in a from Grand Forks became guests in Mayville that day silver urn. Its presence certainly gave credibility to the if they had no other place to go. greeting. The word “refugee” was never used. That Responders’ needs for rest and space became an night at supper in our home, we had a discussion with issue. People were putting in tremendously long hours, our two families concerning the use of the term “friend” and many found their job descriptions had greatly versus “refugee.” We even consulted the dictionary changed. Disasters do not function in the context of and after much debate decided the word “friend” or committee meetings, nor do they adhere to established “guest” was more appropriate. In today’s world the policies. The pastors of the community recognized this word “refugee” has political connotations. In the days need and focused their ministry on the caregivers. ahead a carefully chosen word set the tone for the Space took on a new meaning for people who people of the small state university and the commuhoused guests. Both hosts and guests learned to stagnity as they sought to meet the needs of their “guests” ger wakeup and bedtimes, baths, and even meals. from Grand Forks. The residents of Mayville and PortTension was best avoided by open discussions about land had no experience in disaster relief. They could ways to meet needs for space. Creative solutions inonly imagine themselves in the place of the people cluded a community day care service so host families who had suffered numerous losses. They responded could have space and time together. with sensitivity. As we entered the second week of flood relief, most The first week at the Campus Flood Relief Center immediate physiological needs had been met. Safety was spent meeting physiological needs of those seekand security needs were critical as people began being shelter. Community residents opened their homes ing allowed to go back to their flooded neighborhoods and wallets to strangers. A complete database of availfor short visits to assess damage. For most, disbelief able homes had been comfinally became reality. The piled, which assisted in guests in Mayville were at matching guests with volpeople were putting in tremen&us/y various stages of grievunteer host families. At the long hours, and many found their job ~~~~~~t~~~~~~~o~s~f Camnus Flood Relief Center and area churches, dodescriptions had greatly changed. sions,’ for’ their very I city. nations of clothing, perResponders in the comsonal hygiene items, and munity were sensitive to even pet food were being made. People had creatively this and listened to the stories. We often felt helpless anticipated their guests’ needs and literally opened as we listened; I continually had to remind myself that their dresser drawers, closet doors, and bathroom cabimy job was not to fix it-but, oh, how much I wanted nets in response to the numerous needs. As commuto fix it! Listening to those stories was physically and nity members sorted and organized items at the distriemotionally draining, and I knew it was important for bution centers, they listened to their guests’ stories. someone to listen to me, too. I could not deny that my Students at Mayville State University also became life was changed, and I needed to tell my story. My responders as they served as hosts and guides, aslisteners were family members in another state, a colsisted with meals, and provided baby-sitting services. league, and a daily journal. Through these dialogs I After 5 days, Mayville State University canceled the was able to identify my own anxieties and concerns remainder of their semester. It had become imposas a responder. sible to run both programs-the University and FEMA Many human needs are met simultaneously, and Campus Flood Relief Center-using the same facilities while physiological needs were being met, the need and, in some cases, the same personnel. In retrospect, for love and belonging was still present. Basic human I think those students learned more in those 5 days as needs are met largely through family relationships and responders to need than they could have learned in interactions. I think the residents of our community fully any other way. But their own needs for closure were understood this as they opened their homes to comnot met. They were informed of the cancellation of plete strangers. The framework of a secure family setclasses and asked to pack and leave. Without time for ting allowed the guests to meet their basic needs. BeI

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coming able to function first in this framework, guests were then able to accept and understand others and finally came to function within the community. To maintain the security of the family framework, each home needed at least one “in house” person to maintain order amid chaos and to provide guidance and stability for family members and guests alike. In my home, I was the “in house” person, but not without a struggle about not being on the front line as a professional nurse. Time easily erased my need to perform as a professional nurse. I was needed in my home to provide constancy and comfort, surely good nursing skills, as virtually everything took on a new dimension, shaped by the disaster and by the influx of guests to our community. Two weeks after the total evacuation of Grand Forks, our community’s guests were returning to the city, often to makeshift accommodations. The College of Nursing reopened, and I returned to work. But the next weekend, I drove to my mother’s home to retreat and recharge my batteries. I knew my job as responder was not over, and it was important for me to care for myself. As I write this article, 5 weeks have passed since we were awakened at 2:00 a.m. to receive our guests. People are attempting to put their lives back together. Needs continue to be met on all levels, but in the weeks and months ahead, the need for self-esteem will be most evident. Self-esteem is essential if individuals are to become independent and self-confident. Responders will have to be sensitive to this. Responders’ creativity and energy levels will be challenged again. From a professional perspective I recognize that this fall our students will be caring for clients whose losses have been and continue to be enormous while they, the students, also struggle to cope with losses. LJND administrators have urged faculty and staff to be “flexible” in dealing with students as they register and come back to school. Faculty, also victims, will be both responders and teachers. Those with survivor guilt--“untouched” by the disaster-can be encouraged to channel the guilt energy into a sensitive responder role that helps provide answers to all those needs. I will take my lessons from a small rural community upriver from Grand Forks, a community that responded sensitively to the ripple effects of the SjOOyear flood. It is a community that realized and experienced its full potential. -Cheryl Macejkovic October

1997

Nurses Association

SURVIVOR GUILT As I write this, from my third floor office window I can look out through the tops of trees, across two parking lots and a street, and see a church. By leaning very slightly to the left, I can see the edge of a pile of garbage. By walking out of the building, getting in my car, and driving almost anywhere in the city I can see the ongoing aftermath of “The Flood.” I see our city and state leaders and other local citizens on national television and hear tips for cleanup on the local radio stations. (Household bleach is one of the most heavily donated commodities the community has received.) Because of the enormous losses (in excess of $43 million) suffered by UND, our classical music station has had to give up all but “freebie” programing. Everywhere, in every way, one is reminded of The Flood. “Survivor guilt” is a term used by mental health professionals to describe what people feel who were not directly affected by a tragedy. Toby Baker, wife of UND president Kendall Baker, described it as being in the unenviable position of having to apologize because your home, or at least your basement, was not flooded. And it is true. One cringes every time one hears another brave North Dakotan report that “It just got into the basement-the first floor was fine.” Or, “We had river water, but no sewage backup. We were lucky.” Or, “We were able to move most of our really important stuff upstairs before we evacuated.” What does it feel like to lose one’s home? “Real” survivors seem determined to be brave. They may cry, but their words are brave. “We have to put this aside and go on.” “It’s hard, but we have to be thankful no one was hurt.” I try to imagine how I would feel if I was only 30, still strong and resilient. Perhaps I would feel brave, too. But would I be brave now? If I had lost my home? If I had lost anything? What do those suffering from survival guilt do? We empty the refrigerator of a friend whose basement is “toast” (a popular term for what the basement looks like after the water recedes) before the friend comes back from wherever she or he has been. We let a “real” survivor have a bed in our unravaged home. We allow-hell, we beg-people to use our showers and take meals with us. We apologize a lot. With embarrassed barks of truncated laughter or apologetic smiles, we admit our homes were unravaged. It is almost with equanimity that we learn our taxes are to be higher next year to help make up a $7 million decreased city revenue. Two thirds of the residents of Wilhite,

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Grand Forks and East Grand Forks sustained damage to their homes. More than a thousand homes still do not have electricity. Some College of Nursing staff or faculty are living in small travel trailers parked in their driveways or on parking lots as they spend the evenings cleaning their homes. Others are living in upper rooms of their homes. Still others remain in temporary situations in other communities. “Guilt” survivors ask “real” survivors how they are doing, what stage of flood recovery they are in, and listen as we are told. We suspect that our questions are asked with the hope that we will hear our friends and colleagues tell us they are fine. One colleague told me, though, “Oh, but keep asking. We do need to talk about it, and we probably wouldn’t unless we’re asked.” Another told me she needs to tell her story more than once but that many people do not want to hear about such overwhelming misfortune. In fact, complaining about one’s lot in life is not a characteristic one associates with

Two thirds of the residents of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks sustained damage to their homes. North Dakotans, Mental health specialists keep reminding us that we need to talk? to tell our stories. Indeed, Sigmond Freud had a term for it that has never been improved on: cathexis. It may be only through talking that one may cathect events and make them part of oneself. One telling of a story may be insufficient to cathect the devastating event that is so poorly perceived. One of my brothers called recently and asked if I was “back to normal.” I had to admit that I am not. The best descriptor of what I feel is “weird.” With every recollection of my flight from Grand Forks I remember another detail. How I listened to the radio from the comfort of my car parked outside one of the hanger bays at the air base shelter and learned that classes had been canceled at UND and all public and private schools for the remainder of the semester. I too, had to hear the announcement several times before I accepted that I was really hearing it. How I heard the report of the fire raging in downtown Grand Forks and stared with horror toward the east to see the black smoke, approximately 15 miles away. How 164

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I met a casual acquaintance at the shelter and it seemed as if I had found a dear and treasured friend. How I could not bring myself to sleep in a hanger at the air base with 1,000 other people and chose to spend my one night there in my car. And how I drove 900 miles to be with family, crying much of the way. Sixty hours after arriving at my brother’s door, I left to return to North Dakota, not knowing when I would be able to return to my home but having made contact with one

With every recollection of my flight from Grand Forks I remember another detail. of the authors of this article (C. M.). Through her husband, I found a place to stay until I was allowed to move back to my own unflooded home. My refugee status lasted only 12 days. Survivor guilt continues. One of the authors of this article (M. L. H.) has noted that denial may be manifest by volunteerism. I kept volunteering but could never quite do anything. Once, when I tried to help sort donated supplies, I had to stop after half an hour because of physical distress. At the College of Nursing, I came in for as little as an hour most days, while “real” survivors manned the telephones, attended briefings, and generally moved things toward normality. Decisions about grades were made, faculty and staff were located, and telephone numbers were obtained. I felt adrift and confused, although I was able to calculate students’ grades (based on work completed to the date classes were canceled) and to do quite routine things. For example, I threw out everything in the refrigerators in the faculty lounge. I loitered around the dean’s secretary’s office (the hub for the College of Nursing) where other faculty and staff manned the telephone and kept track of where people called from, when they expected to return, and so forth. I did not mind the cold (the building was unheated for about a week, and nighttime temperatures often fell below freezing until mid-May), but I felt emotionally numb. I recall being quite amazed that one faculty member was able to do two things at once: talk with someone on the phone while addressing envelopes for a Sigma Theta Tau chapter mailing. I have been impressed with the students at UND who volunteered hundreds of hours of effort to sandVol. 3, No. 5

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bagging, dike walking, and other preflood activities. formal paper. That forces them to prepare and enThey worked right up until mandatory evacuation orables them to participate in class discussions. The health ders came to district after district in the city. They worked science library was spared, but the building it is in until the University president announced that the Uniwas not. It was not until June 2 that the health science versity was closed and asked students to go home. For library was open with limited hours. In the interim the some students home staff worked out of one was Grand Forks, and room in the main campus they became refugees. Healing for all of us at the College of :gzT; ~$??~~~~~c~~~ The others went home or became volunteers at Nursing will go on throughout the to computer searches, inshelters. At least one stueluding many journals with summer and into the fall and dent volunteered at the full text retrieval, through beyond. local Humane Society, a computer room in the which was coordinating College or through the a pet rescue project. She main library. said sh.e had driven 200 miles before turning back. She “Real” survivors and “guilt” survivors work and study had left her parakeets in her home; when she was unside by side. Although I recognize intellectually that able to go back for them, she volunteered at the Husurvivor guilt is not deviant behavior, I also recognize mane Society. Other students worked with the Ameriemotionally that I am not exactly “normal” either, Healcan Red Cross, Salvation Army, or other volunteer ing for all of us at the College of Nursing will go on agencies in neighboring communities. throughout the summer and into the fall and beyond. I am teaching as scheduled this summer. We started Removing 100,000 tons of refuse from the berms will on time and in our own building. But students, many not heal the city. But just as new grass covers the bald of whom are engaged in cleaning their homes or helpspots where the refuse lay for a month the wounds ing others, do not seem particularly interested in parwill start to scar, and the scars will begin to fade and ticipating in class, so I have structured the classes and 50,000 people will become a whole city again. assignments, including take-home examinations and a -Mary J. Wilhite

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