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Northwest Florida Medical Clinics Fill the Void From Katrina

Posted on: Friday, 2 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 2--Local hospitals and medical clinics have been inundated with evacuees from Hurricane Katrina-hit areas in the past few days.

Already, medical personnel are hearing it all, from happy endings to tragic consequences.

Heather Gaskin Dedeaux is glad to be one of the positive cases seen at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. She delivered her baby boy Wednesday night, after a short 45-minute delivery at the maternity ward.

"Eight months ago, when I found out I was pregnant, I really questioned God," she said softly, choked with emotion. "We weren't planning on having any more, and at first I just wasn't as excited. I asked God, 'Why? There has to be a reason.'

"Now, I believe there was. I probably wouldn't have left before the storm if I hadn't been pregnant."

Dedeaux drove five hours in a convoy of 16 family members from Kiln, Miss. She left behind her husband, her father-in-law and several men in the family who wanted to be there to protect their homes.

"I called them the kings of their castles," Dedeaux said.

The men were powerless in the fury of the storm. Dedeaux's home was jolted from its foundation and a gaping hole was torn from the roof. She plans to stay in the area until an air-conditioned place to stay can be secured for herself and her three children: baby Todd, Ali and Heath.

For now, the Fort Walton Beach native is stranded from her Mississippi home, with only a few outfits she was able to grab before the evacuation.

Other medical centers are seeing people with even greater needs and more significant health problems.

Lyn Kelley with White-Wilson Medical Center reported the clinic has seen everything from expectant mothers with nothing left to sick little kids dealing with heat and stress.

"One gentleman was back home in Bay St. Louis while his family was here on vacation," Kelley said. "He was stuck in debris and his family thought he had died. They got back to him and brought him here. His legs were covered in lacerations.

"I just wanted to hug him, he'd been through so much. It's terrible, but it just goes to show you that miracles do happen."

Other patients need everything from tetanus shots for debris injuries to prescriptions for maintenance drugs for chronic conditions.

"One lady had to evacuate so fast from a nursing home, she left her purse that had all her medication. She must have been on ten medications, and no one in her family knew exactly what she had to take," Kelley said. "It's been crazy."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

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Source: Northwest Florida Daily News

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