New Orleans visitors bring Jambalaya and crisis center donations
Katie Hanson - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 7/14/08 Section: Metro
The area around Normandy Drive is quiet, as gutted houses spill their ruined contents onto curbs and homeowners clean and salvage what remains.
In the midst of this desolation, the intersection of Normandy and Manor Drive was strikingly festive on Sunday afternoon.
Zydeco music, unique to southern Louisiana, played in the background while local residents gathered around food-laden tables strewn with Mardi Gras beads and ate from steaming bowls of jambalaya and red beans.
"We wanted to take a taste of New Orleans to Iowa," said Cheryl Carter, the director of the emergency department at East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans.
Employees at the hospital never forgot the effect that volunteer groups had in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Carter said.
"We remember the people from Iowa who showed up, and we wanted to repay that," she said.
The seven-person trip to Iowa was an idea that evolved over time, said Layne Mistretta, a registered nurse. It originated in the hospital's ER and grew to encompass the entire community.
"It started one afternoon when it wasn't too busy in the ER," he said, standing on the sidewalk and beckoning to passing cars.
Mistretta remembers being bombarded with patients after other hospitals evacuated in 2006, so he and another ER technician decided to help an Iowa hospital.
They hopped on the Internet and located the UI Hospitals and Clinics and were soon directed to St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids as well. At first, they planned to simply send a care package of local favorites such as Zapp's potato chips and Hubig's Pies.
Within a week, however, the whole hospital was sending in donations, and organizers found themselves with enough supplies to fill a large truck.
"It went from a box of chips to an 18-hour trip," Mistretta said.
While driving into Iowa City on Sunday morning, many group members had flashbacks from Hurricane Katrina's devastation.
In the midst of this desolation, the intersection of Normandy and Manor Drive was strikingly festive on Sunday afternoon.
Zydeco music, unique to southern Louisiana, played in the background while local residents gathered around food-laden tables strewn with Mardi Gras beads and ate from steaming bowls of jambalaya and red beans.
"We wanted to take a taste of New Orleans to Iowa," said Cheryl Carter, the director of the emergency department at East Jefferson General Hospital in New Orleans.
Employees at the hospital never forgot the effect that volunteer groups had in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Carter said.
"We remember the people from Iowa who showed up, and we wanted to repay that," she said.
The seven-person trip to Iowa was an idea that evolved over time, said Layne Mistretta, a registered nurse. It originated in the hospital's ER and grew to encompass the entire community.
"It started one afternoon when it wasn't too busy in the ER," he said, standing on the sidewalk and beckoning to passing cars.
Mistretta remembers being bombarded with patients after other hospitals evacuated in 2006, so he and another ER technician decided to help an Iowa hospital.
They hopped on the Internet and located the UI Hospitals and Clinics and were soon directed to St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids as well. At first, they planned to simply send a care package of local favorites such as Zapp's potato chips and Hubig's Pies.
Within a week, however, the whole hospital was sending in donations, and organizers found themselves with enough supplies to fill a large truck.
"It went from a box of chips to an 18-hour trip," Mistretta said.
While driving into Iowa City on Sunday morning, many group members had flashbacks from Hurricane Katrina's devastation.
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