IM Building Sheltered Many During Storm
When the county needed help finding shelter for people with medical needs, Duke was able to help out
It was late on Friday afternoon, with darkness and another freezing night ahead for the majority of Durham residents. Duke officials had just gotten word that the county wanted to take them up on an offer of shelter for people who had lost power during the worst ice storm in Durham's history.
Within an hour, one of the county's official sites for people with special medical needs was open in the Intramural Building next to Wallace Wade Stadium. Students shooting baskets had graciously vacated the gym. Duke police had arrived at the site, with volunteers from the medical center and Duke's Community Affairs Office. The county sent army cots and sheets provided by the Red Cross, and later blankets from the county jail.
About 10:30 p.m., about 18 shaken residents of a group home -- people of varying ages and disabilities -- disembarked from a Durham County Access vans with several staff members. The residents, including a blind man and folks with varying degrees of mental and physical ailments, walked in, clutching blankets and pillows. Duke volunteers greeted the guests with hot coffee and pasta dinners from Duke's Oak Room Restaurant.
"I think it was absolutely wonderful that Duke would come forward at time when this community desperately needed shelter for people with medical needs," said Brian Latourneau, director of the Durham County Health Department, who helped coordinate the move.
Meredith Jones, director of support services for the Durham Crisis Response Center: Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, brought a woman with diabetes and her daughter to the Duke site.
"I run a shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence, and their safety was compromised when we lost power and they had to leave," said Jones, who is also a 2000 graduate of the Duke Divinity School. "But their confidentiality was preserved and there was police protection. I slept well - even in the cold - knowing the residents were safe and warm and being well cared for."
Jim Wulforst, manager of Duke Dining Services, personally lugged bagels, deli sandwiches, pizzas and a variety of hot foods, as well as bottled water, soft drinks and coffee to the Intramural building.
In addition, Wulforst and his staff managed to serve meals to several hundred Durham police, fire and
maintenance workers and to donate food to feed 800 people at another Red Cross facility.
Sue Coon, dean of student activities, sent over televisions to help break the monotony. John Burness, senior vice president of public affairs and government relations, remained at the site much of the time and obtained tickets for two children to attend the men's basketball game on Saturday.
Susan Epstein and Dr. Lloyd Michener of Community and Family Medicine recruited volunteers from their department, as well as the Physician Assistant Program, School of Nursing, and the medical school, to aide the nurses sent by the county and the Emergency Medical Services. Dr. Kathy Andolsek spent the night at the makeshift shelter.
"The county agencies partner with us in all our programs, and I was glad they called on us when they had the need for additional support," Epstein said. "We had some very, very sick and needy patients with disabilities, both physical as well as mental.
"We were lucky in that the county nurses and EMS who came in were great and the Duke folks who volunteered were wonderful, including my neighbors Vickie Schneider and B.J. Erwin. Most had no power themselves, many had no water at home either."
On Saturday, the Duke volunteers kept getting word that more guests might arrive. But with the exception of a Hispanic child with a tracheotomy on a respirator, no new guests came. Late in the afternoon, the county decided to consolidate residents with medical needs at the Jordan High School shelter. By 6 p.m., vans had come to carry away the guests, the cots and extra food.
The group effort did not go unnoticed by President Nannerl O. Keohane, who praised the work in an email.
"I know that it was rewarding, even if -- at some times, harrowing or anxiety producing - for all those who were involved," Keohane wrote. "All of this does, indeed, speak to Duke at its best. I deeply appreciate the contributions of all."
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