A group of ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø senior students and two professors who spent two weeks doing volunteer health care work through the American Red Cross among flood victims in Mississippi experienced a mixture of grief and joy among the many people they met.

The eight students, along with Don Tyson and Sue Klassen of the EMU nursing faculty, left Harrisonburg Sept. 19 for the Gulf Coast region, along with 17 students and a faculty member from neighboring James Madison University.

Students Amanda Maust, Aaron Schmucker, Cara Salmon, Kara Glick, Hadley Jenner, Monica Hensley, Carla Simmons-Wulin and Emily Dye and their instructors first went to the regional Red Cross headquarters in Montgomery, Ala., for orientation before being deployed.

Klassen took four students to Brookhaven, Miss., and Tyson took four students to McComb, Miss. In both places they provided health services at temporary Red Cross Service Centers set up to distribute monetary funds to victims of the hurricane. Each service center saw 400-600 persons per day.

The groups’ goal was to perform health screenings (mostly blood pressure and glucose checks), treat persons with illnesses and provide counsel regarding health problems that were exacerbated by the hurricane.

Several of Klassen’s students also helped set up a Red Cross shelter following Hurricane Rita to help evacuees from Texas and Louisiana who came to that shelter.

As expected, the students’ experiences ran the gamut of emotions – personally and among the people they served, but what stood out, they all agreed, was "the remarkable expressions of gratitude and praise, even though most had lost everything they had."

"I didn’t know what kind of attitudes we’d encounter," said Emily M. Dye of Stephens City, Va. "The people seemed so grateful for any help they received and were just thankful to be alive."

The students said that they were able to observe "different approaches" to health care delivery in their shelter and service center settings. Several commented that while persons needed medical attention, "they were hesitant to seek it because of preoccupation with finding lost relatives or meeting other basic human needs."

Amanda A. Maust, Keezletown, Va., appreciated the opportunity to "see the Red Cross in action" through a host of volunteer workers. She called the two weeks "a great learning experience."

Aaron J. Schmucker, La Junta, Colo., said he felt "the frustration of a disaster situation," noting "all the things we take for granted were swept away," leaving flood victims to struggle with such things as getting groceries, medications and dealing with insurance loss.

In between working in the service centers, all group members had opportunity to see some of the coastline destruction firsthand, calling it "completely overwhelming."

Kara M. Glick, Columbiana, Ohio, said she dealt with "feelings of helplessness" as she became more aware of the need for more and better health care in the area even before the disaster struck.

"I was taken back by the number of people who would apologize for crying while they were being examined or treated," said Tyson, an assistant professor of nursing. "It was an opportunity for us to practice what we talk about in the classroom as the ‘concept of presence,’ trying to offer a listening ear and a caring attitude toward those we assisted."

Klassen, also an assistant professor of nursing, cited "the willingness of people to share their stories of what had happened to them" as a highlight of her time in Mississippi, adding that "there were some really great personnel on the health care team we worked with. We quickly bonded with them."

The group noted that they had "some anxious moments" at the midway point of their trip when Hurricane Rita moved through the Gulf of Mexico toward its eventual landfall on the Louisiana-Texas border.

"We were surprised that communication was better than expected there," Klassen said. "Our cell phones worked fine and we were able to stay in touch with people back home."

Added Tyson: "We were deluged with e-mails [from EMU and beyond] wanting to know how things were going. We sensed the concerns and prayer support of many people during our time there."

About two dozen nursing students from EMU and neighboring James Madison University left Harrisonburg
early on Sept. 19 for the Gulf Coast to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The EMU senior nursing students and two nursing faculty members from EMU and 17 students and one professor from JMU traveled by bus to a Red Cross "disbursement center" in Montgomery, Ala. From there, they were given assignments in either Louisiana or Mississippi.

The group has now finished their Red Cross orientation. Donald L. Tyson, a registered nurse and assistant professor of nursing at EMU, reports it is a massive operation with about 100 volunteers going through the center everyday. Their group has been assigned to Red Cross Service Centers about 120 miles north of New Orleans. The relief teams are now anticipating the arrival of large groups of displaced people from Texas. At the service centers the students and faculty members will be doing health assessments and especially targeting persons with high blood pressure and diabetes (very common in the
region).

"It wasn’t clear before we left exactly where we’ll be going," said Tyson before the group’s departure. "But we’re likely to be doing community health assessments, referrals and public health teaching as Red Cross volunteers." The agency is providing transportation, housing and meals for the group.

The EMU nursing students are Kara Glick, Amanda Maust, Monica Hensley, Aaron Schmucker, Hadley Jenner, Carla Simmons-Wulin, Emily Dye and Cara Salmon along with Tyson and Klassen.

"It will be a life-altering, practical learning experience (for the nursing students)," said Donna Trimm, an assistant professor of nursing at
JMU.

The students will be required to make up missed class work upon their return to their respective campuses Sept. 30.

In an e-mail message to the campus community just prior to departure, Tyson said, "We ask your prayers for us and for the people we will be
touching during this time."

The new faculty, announced by Dr. Beryl H. Brubaker, EMU provost, and Dr. Marie S. Morris, vice president and undergraduate academic dean, are:

– David R. Brubaker, assistant professor of conflict studies in the Conflict Transformation Program (CTP). Brubaker earned a BS in business administration from Messiah College, Grantham, Pa., an MBA in global economic development from Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa., and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona specializing in religious and organizational conflict.

In 1997, he and four partners founded Cooperative by Design, an Arizona Peacebuilding Consortium which provides a range of consulting and peacebuilding services to not-for-profit organizations, educational institutions, governmental organizations and corporations. Before this, he was the associate director of Mennonite Conciliation Service for two years and assistant director of Mennonite Central Committee