How Hurricane Katrina formed one physician’s path to drugs

After Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, Louisiana State University’s 13,000-seat Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC) was remodeled into the biggest triage and acute care area hospital ever assembled within the U.S.

Among the various volunteers was 19-year-old Matthew Giglia, MD, then a sophomore at LSU. His photograph—bearded and scruffy—appeared in a New Orleans Times-Picayune story overlaying the PMAC response.

“It was surreal, and definitely not something you ever want to go through again,” recalled Dr. Giglia, now a colon and rectal surgeon at Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Baton Rouge. “But it helped shape things going forward.”

In an interview with the AMA, Dr. Giglia mirrored upon the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, sharing his recollections and the way that have impacted his profession in drugs. 

Ochsner Health is a part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which gives enterprise options to equip management, physicians and care groups with sources to assist drive the way forward for drugs. 

AMA: What do you keep in mind most in regards to the first few days after Hurricane Katrina and volunteering on the PMAC?

Dr. Giglia: I used to be simply two or three weeks into my sophomore 12 months, one second settling into campus life and the following, the whole lot shut down. Military helicopters have been touchdown subsequent to the PMAC. What made it even stranger was that each one of Baton Rouge misplaced electrical energy, however LSU bought it again first, the one place in town with energy. It regarded like daytime at midnight whereas the remainder of town was darkish. 

Our house was on LSU’s energy grid and so we had energy and working water. We invited a Times-Picayune reporter over to bathe as a result of they hadn’t in days. That’s how my photograph ended up within the paper.

AMA: What made you wish to volunteer with PMAC?

Dr. Giglia: People throughout campus needed to assist. The very first thing we did was arrange a donation heart as a result of individuals have been desirous to drop stuff off. We organized it by some individuals in our fraternity, different Greek organizations and scholar authorities. People had garments, blankets, child meals and different provides however had no concept the place to take them, so we organized a drive-through drop-off, loaded donations into vans, and delivered them to shelters or wherever we wanted to. 

Then we realized in regards to the medical response on the PMAC. I had labored in a hospital throughout highschool within the emergency room as a volunteer, taking very important indicators, serving to with triage and delivering provides, so we went to the PMAC to assist no matter approach we may, which largely wasn’t medical. We did a little bit bit of important indicators and triage, nevertheless it was primarily transporting sufferers and serving to the docs and nurses with provides. It was simply doing no matter we may.

AMA: How did it really feel to out of the blue shift from scholar life to being a part of this emergency response effort?

Dr. Giglia: It was surreal. I used to be pre-med. I used to be in organic sciences and fascinated by going to medical college, however I did not know for positive. My dad’s a doctor and my mother was a nurse and a hospital administrator. So, I had been round it and was fascinated by it. 

It was positively one thing that made me notice I needed to do it for my very own causes and for the best causes, not simply because I’ve been round it my complete life or that is what my household did. I’d been round hospitals, so it was very regular to be in a setting like that to some extent, however positively totally different due to the size of it. 

But this was not a well-oiled machine. This was thrown collectively by native individuals at LSU and from Baton Rouge. There was not a Red Cross there or an enormous federal response able to go, sadly, as a result of this had by no means occurred on this scale. 

We realized a variety of issues from Hurricane Katrina about what to not do and a few of that was the preparation and group required for such a catastrophe response. It was positively chaos and disorganized, however individuals did the perfect they might. Given the scenario, individuals did wonderful issues.

AMA: What did you study that also influences the way you observe drugs in the present day?

Dr. Giglia: You can present a degree of consolation and emotional help even in conditions the place you are not instantly offering medical care. It’s all a staff effort and there is not one particular particular person accountable. Everybody on the staff must be empathetic and sympathetic to the affected person’s wants. It shapes the way you deal with your future sufferers as properly.

AMA: How did the response at PMAC result in adjustments in how physicians volunteer throughout disasters?

Dr. Giglia: Busloads of individuals from across the nation arrived to assist. You need these individuals to return in and assist your state while you’re in such dire want. The downside was we didn’t have a option to confirm in the event that they have been really docs or nurses. 

After Hurricane Katrina, there was a verification system that was put in place to confirm that you’re certainly who you say you might be, as a result of not everyone carries round their medical license. Back in 2005, there weren’t iPhones the place you can examine state medical web sites to confirm that somebody is a doctor. The different factor that occurred in Louisiana was that we additionally modified legal guidelines to permit state crossing of licenses and privileges every time you will have an emergency occasion like Hurricane Katrina. 

I went again about three years later to volunteer for Hurricane Gustav, and we needed to open up PMAC once more. I used to be a first-year medical scholar at the moment, and it was a extra well-oiled machine. For Hurricane Gustav there was the verification system and what roles every particular person had in comparison with throughout Katrina after we have been making issues up as we went. It labored, however there are extra environment friendly, higher methods to do it they usually have been figuring that out with Gustav. 

AMA: How did your expertise throughout Hurricane Katrina form your identification as a physician and a pacesetter?

Dr. Giglia: To me, one of the crucial essential qualities of management is setting an instance always. It’s while you do the best factor within the second, even while you’re not going to get recognition. When you’re not anticipated to do these items or observed in your work, that’s the second when it’s a very powerful as a result of anyone can present management once they’re up on the stage getting an award for it. 

The character that’s required to be chief is proven within the unrecognized moments. The similar holds true for our roles as physicians. Our responsibility is to our sufferers, and we should try to at all times do what is correct for them no matter recognition, reward or gratitude. 

AMA: Looking again on Hurricane Katrina, do you will have any last ideas?

Dr. Giglia: I can’t consider it’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina. Looking again on it now, it was heartwarming that not simply the scholars on campus, however the residents from across the state and different states got here collectively to assist individuals who have been probably the most weak on the time. It spoke to the resilience of the state and the way we band collectively. I’m extraordinarily pleased with the response that everyone gave. 

I used to be only a small a part of it. Everybody else made the wheels flip greater than I did they usually’re those who actually deserve the credit score. The individuals who have been affected by Katrina additionally should be highlighted greater than anyone as a result of it was their world that bought upended. Even although all our lives modified, they’re those who suffered.