Nurse Leslie Bass works with hurricane victims

When Leslie Bass boarded a plane from St. Petersburg, Fla., to Spokane, the exhausted Red Cross volunteer thought she would sleep all the way home. About 20 minutes into the flight, an urgent request was made, “Is there a nurse on board?”

“I ended up taking care of a stewardess who was having medical problems for 41/2 hours. There was no end to it, no break,” said Bass.

Bass arrived home at 3 a.m. Sept. 4 after spending two weeks working 14-hour days providing mental health care to victims of Hurricane Charley.

Bass, 49, is a registered nurse and the director of nursing at Fairview Assisted Living.

She gained crisis experience working for Spokane Mental Health. In 1994 she spent a week at Fairchild Air Force Base after the fatal shootings there. While at Fairchild she got to know several Red Cross volunteers.

“We were kind of doing the same thing. I joined their team, too,” said Bass.

In 1996 Bass did some debriefing after the school shooting in Moses Lake.

These events helped prepare her for her last three American Red Cross assignments; work at ground zero after Sept. 11, 2001, a tornado in Jackson, Tenn., and in Florida after the first of several devastating hurricanes.

“I ended up supervising four people. We did mental health outreach in Port Charlotte County. It was 95 degrees in the shade with high humidity. We worked under a big tent in Punta Gorda in the parking lot of a Catholic church that had been damaged,” said Bass.

“The sad part is that Florida has to be the mobile-home capital of the world. The newer mobile homes did a little bit better because they are constructed better, but the older ones were just thrashed,” said Bass.

Nurses, family service workers and mental health providers would pick a mobile home park that was totally or partially destroyed and go door-to-door-to-door. “A lot of senior citizens were afraid to leave because they were afraid of looting, or they may not have the ability to drive long distances to service centers. So they stayed in these homes where they had no electricity, no water, many didn’t have working toilets.

“The ERVs (emergency response vehicles) would go through and feed them every day, but some of these older people didn’t even come out. They would say, ‘I’m really not that bad, give it to someone else,’ when they really were that bad.

“Many were afraid that someone would put them in a nursing home or wouldn’t let them go back. So there was a lot of emotional turmoil.

“There was one little old guy that I saw. During the storm he went out to watch it from under his carport. I think he had a little dementia. He said, ‘I’ve liked adventure all my life, and I just wanted to see what was happening.’ Meanwhile, his wife was in the bathtub with the poodle,” said Bass.

Many people were suffering from dementia, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Bass said that the elderly, many who already have health challenges, are developing respiratory problems. The heat, rain and high humidity are causing mold and mildew to grow up the walls. “It was disgusting. In some of the places you couldn’t even breathe,” said Bass.

According to Patricia Moseley, executive director of the Inland Northwest Chapter of American Red Cross, 20 of the 100 local volunteers are available to go out on national disasters.

Moseley said that the national disaster relief coffers had about $800,000 prior to Hurricane Charley, which is estimated to cost the Red Cross $50 million. They estimate that Hurricane Frances will cost $50 million to $100 million.

“People watch TV and say, ‘That’s so awful, those poor people. I’m so lucky to have my home, and my family is safe.’ Then they go out to Applebee’s and go to a movie,” said Moseley.

“There is something they can do to help their fellow Americans. Write a check and then make it hurt — dig deeper and write another check. One for local help and one for the national disaster fund,” said Moseley.

According to Moseley, the local American Red Cross helps more than 500 people each year in the Spokane area, most in fire-related emergencies. “Every 53 hours someone is helped here. Locally we provide hotel rooms, clothing, medications, other essentials, rent money, security deposits.”

The local chapter also provides disaster preparedness, CPR and first-aid training, baby-sitter training, wilderness basics, and other services.

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