New Orleans-native Sara Reardon, a third-year doctoral student in the Program in Physical Therapy, felt helpless while Hurricane Katrina destroyed her family’s homes in 2005.
So she felt a strong duty to give something back to her hometown.
She shared her thoughts with her physical therapy classmates, including Adrianne Thomas, a second-year doctoral student who had spent several weeks helping out last summer in New Orleans.
Together, Reardon and Thomas organized a group of 19 second- and third-year physical therapy doctoral students and a few of their friends to travel to New Orleans during this year’s spring break to help the city rebuild.
The students worked for Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corp., a non-profit humanitarian organization, gutting houses and clearing debris from homes, cleaning up a community recreation center and cutting tree limbs. In addition, a group worked in the office and pharmacy at a busy free medical clinic, where they helped with triage and assisted the clinic’s physical therapist.
Casey Harger, a third-year student who went on the trip, had never been to New Orleans and said he wasn’t sure what the conditions would be.
“It was surprising how much there is left to do,” he said. “It was pretty sad to see families still trying to live in houses that aren’t sanitary.”
Thomas agreed. “It was really eye opening to see what people went through and to see where they are now,” she said.
As a New Orleans native, Reardon said the trip was different for her than for the other students.
“The initial shock was gone for me,” she said. “I was used to the smell, the flooded homes, homes with saturated contents and those marked with an ‘X’ by the National Guard, indicating they had been checked for living people or animals. But none of the other students had any association with New Orleans or Hurricane Katrina. I really admired what they gave of themselves and sacrificed.”
The students paid their own way to New Orleans. Operation Blessing provided meals, tools and housing in a converted grocery store.
While the students went to New Orleans to give of themselves — with a little time included for fun — the experience gave them something in return.
“It was a good time for inner growth,” Harger said. “Everyone came back with new friends, and this trip allowed us to see our classmates on a whole new level and learn new things about each other.”
“I realized just how many people need help, especially after so much time since the disaster occurred, and how much energy, time and money people need to get their lives back together,” Reardon said. “I learned a lot about myself and about working with others. I felt physically and emotionally strong after enduring that week of service, and I can’t imagine the past year and a half for the people who actually lived through it.”
Reardon, Thomas and Harger said they hope that future classes will follow their lead by taking spring break service trips because of the success of the New Orleans trip.