By Beth Tinto
Director of Human Resources, Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans
An HR director provides an emotional account of what it’s like to survive a major disaster—and what lessons her organization learned for the future.
This week marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to Katrina, the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans had 9,000 employees in the greater metropolitan area—in schools, churches, offices, and social service agencies.
Every single one of us has a story. Some are heartbreaking, and what compounds that is how commonplace the stories are. You would cry to hear just one of those stories of loss, fear, separation, grief, and anxiety. Multiply that by thousands.
We tell our stories over and over to each other, to help ourselves understand and grapple with the enormity. We tell each other the stories to remember, to memorialize, to commiserate, to consecrate, to connect. We tell our stories to people not from New Orleans, to try to help them understand what has happened, and continues to happen to us.
I’ll tell you straight out, it is impossible to imagine it happening to you. Close your eyes now, and think about your home. Think of your parents’ houses, your grandparents,’ your church, your school, the cemeteries where generations of your family are buried. Now imagine that, because of some hideous disaster, it is all gone, or at the very least, irrevocably changed. Do you have a family doctor? He’s gone. The school your children go to? Closed. A vet you really liked? Gone as well. A mechanic that you had a good relationship with? Gone. Drycleaner, drugstore, favorite coffee shop? Same thing. And you know how New Orleanians are about their food! Your favorite restaurants? Gone. And the people who you knew just a little, the nurse in the doctor’s office, the lady at the drycleaner, gone as well. And you likely won’t ever see them again.
Imagine not knowing where your friends are, or even your family. Would you know how to contact your friends if you could not go to their houses, use their phone numbers, send them an e-mail, or call them at work? How would you find them? Plan on a common contact in an area away from the affected area where people can check in.
These are some of the things we have done in response to Katrina, and to plan for the next one:
1. Use the technology of communication, recordkeeping, etc. We bought and programmed cell phones for all key personnel, using an area code not in Louisiana. Our IT people have updated our ability to communicate remotely, with back-up servers in an area north of the hurricane-prone city. Are all your employees on direct deposit? We have now mandated it. We can communicate with payroll providers, health insurance vendors, one another, banks, employees, and others important to the running of the Archdiocese. Ask if your business partners are prepared. Can they handle your business in an emergency?
2. Plan based on your risk. What disaster is most likely in your area? Is it a pandemic, where people will be confined to home? Think about what you will need to operate remotely. How will you pay employees and provide and fund benefits? What will your health carrier do if covered employees are scattered around the country? Find out their emergency plans, and make sure they fit with yours.
3. Take care of your first responders, as they will burn out quickly, especially if affected personally by the disaster. Realize that the workers responding to emergencies may be victims as well.
4. Be prepared for things you would never think about. That first week, I operated my office out of a canvas carryall. I would find a computer when I could and snatch a few minutes to check e-mails. I needed a date book. Here’s the challenge: Go to an office supply store in September, and try to find a date book for that year. It’s impossible.
5. Be ready for short-term trauma and long-term repercussions among your employees. We had employees working like zombies, stopping only to eat (when they could) and sleep (if it was even possible). Even now, the long-term effects of Katrina’s aftermath are being felt: PTSD, depression, suicides, divorce, job loss, family problems. The list of mental health crises facing the Gulf Coast is long and continues to grow.
Our job as human resource professionals is to ensure that our employees have what they need to be effective in their jobs. In a crisis, their needs become that much more acute and varied and serious. How will you help them in a disaster, when you and your response team are affected by it, too?
As our company responded to the call for Emergency Medical Services help in the Katrina disaster they came back asking what would we do in the event of a disaster of this magnitude. We now have direct deposit, not because we were told by anyone to do so. It just made sense. It caused us to look at many things differently because of what our employees relayed to us upon thier return, which was short since they were almost immediately deployed to Houston Texas for Rita just a short time later. Again returning relaying almost identical situations and needs of the victims that they witnessed. Thank you for the further information from the HR perspective. I think this is something that is continued to be over looked by many agencies when they are doing their disaster plans for future preparedness. When they are doing any form of disaster planning someone from HR should be at the table right along with representatives from all emergency responder agencies, law enforcement and government agancies. Thaks again for the information.