Baycrest nurses rally to help nurses in Louisiana

Baycrest nursing staff packed 50 boxes with clothing, toiletries and medical supplies, destined for flood-ravaged Louisiana nurses who lost their homes and all their belongings. From left to right: Jan Anderson, Laura Molloy, Cyndi Pirs and Penney Minor.

When the Registered Nursing Association of Ontario (RNAO) put the call out to Ontario nurses to start collection drives of essential items to help their stricken colleagues in flood-ravgaged New Orleans - Baycrest nurses led the charge!

They collected clothing, toiletries and medical supplies to send down. The response was enormous, said Baycrest Clinical Nurse Specialist Penney Minor who organized the charitable drive.

"In disasters like Hurricane Katrina, we sometimes forget the other victim of this flooding - the medical caregivers," she pointed out. "Nurses in Louisiana also lost their homes and all their possessions. They've been so busy helping all the other flood victims that they haven't had much time to worry about their own losses. They are true heroes and they are also very exhausted."

When Minor called the Louisiana Nurses Association to ask what items they most needed, she soon realized the enormity of the tragedy and that it was down to the bare essentials of survival. "The association was surprised to hear from us in Canada and expressed sincere gratitude," she recalled. "What they really needed were very basic things like socks. That's when I realized that they had lost everything in the floods except the clothes on their back."

In a little over a week, Baycrest nurses collected enough clothing, toiletries, scrubs and medical supplies to fill about 50 large boxes. They penned letters of support and inspiration to their American colleagues and tucked them in each box. One note said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.be strong, be brave.continue your courageous work. You all have made us proud to be nurses."

Joan Lesmond, RNAO President, was so pleased with Baycrest's quick response to help out that she dropped by the centre to offer her personal thanks to the nurses. She also handwrote a letter to include in the boxes. "We are only apart in distance," it read. "Please know that we are here for you.keep up the faith and spirit."

Lesmond hopes that nurses at other hospitals across Ontario will follow Baycrest's lead and organize charitable drives for their colleagues in flood-damaged states.

"We were even contemplating driving everything down ourselves in a truck, we were so anxious to help out," Minor said. The boxes were shipped through arrangements made with the RNAO.