As the 2022 Hurricane Season opens, medical experts say the U.S. is in the throes of another Pandemic surge. So, this week’s blog will highlight a few lessons from Hurricane Katrina survivors that kept them going after the disaster.

One Hurricane Katrina Mississippi woman survivor used her social worker skillset to encourage people months after the disaster. She said, “as I waited in long lines for assistance after Katrina, I told people about where they could get help from churches and other places in our community”. She continued, “people were really receptive and thanked me for telling them what I knew – that really made me feel good even though I was just sharing what I had learned from my social work network”.

Another Hurricane Katrina woman survivor said, “it was hard, we stayed with my daughter in Mobile Alabama until we could figure out what to do next. We drove about an hour back and forth to Gulfport Mississippi daily for work – we had long days. My job offered us temporary shelter in a dormitory to make things a little easier for us until we got a FEMA trailer placed in front of our destroyed home. She said, “my family and job provided a place for us. God provided all my needs.

Like these women, others navigated through the tough situation thrust upon them by the disaster. Their stories of surviving Hurricane Katrina encourage us to know that – if they could keep going after a Category 4 hurricane and personal losses, we, too, can Persevere thru the Pandemic.  You can learn more about these determined disaster survivors in my book, The Overlooked Voices of Hurricane Katrina Mississippi Black Women’s Resilience and Recovery.

Be sure to check my Blog next week for more information on the 2022 Hurricane Season.

#DrOsays #hurricanekatrina #disasterpreparedness #Pandemic #blackwomenstories #perservere