(Ed. note: Dianne Ruple is a general studies student who on August 27 fled New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approached. She returned home on September 19. We caught up with her on September 22, two days before a second major hurricane, Rita, was due to hit the Gulf Coast.)
There's no place like home.
Just ask general studies student Dianne Ruple, who, along with thousands of other residents, fled New Orleans as Katrina, a category 5 hurricane, churned its way toward their city. Born and raised in Mandeville, Louisiana, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Ruple obeyed Mayor Ray Nagin's August 27 evacuation order, fleeing first to Houston, then to northern Louisiana, and finally to Chicago, where her company had set up temporary operations.
Her husband Ron, a 20-year law enforcement officer who heads the criminal investigation unit for the Mandeville Police Department, remained in Mandeville during the storm. He hunkered down with other officers in the police department while Katrina pummeled the area, unleashing onto Mandeville a 16-foot storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain. In the weeks following the hurricane, he worked 24/7 helping to rescue stranded residents and bring order out of chaos.
Ruple had no contact with Ron for 24 hours after Katrina made landfall. By her own admission, she was “freaked out,” not only about Ron but about other family members, as well. She has relatives who live in St. Tammany Parish on the east side of Lake Pontchartrain, she explained, and St. Tammany was one of the hardest hit areas. “Some of my family members left New Orleans with only the clothes on their back.”
After three weeks of worry, Ruple was able to return home on September 19. Upon her return, she was impressed by the ways in which Mandeville had already begun to recover. Right after the hurricane, she said, people were trapped in their homes, trees and power lines were down, services were nonexistent, and “you couldn't see the roads.” Now, she said, roads have been cleared, and many businesses have reopened, albeit with reduced hours since there aren't enough people to staff them.
While Ruple feels disappointed by the lack of response and “poor, poor, poor management” from agencies like the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, she said that the American people have been phenomenal. “There has been an outpouring of support. Complete strangers ask, ‘How is your family doing?'”
Thankfully, Ruple's home suffered no structural damage from the hurricane. She and Ron have electricity in their home, but no cable. Some areas, she said, are still without phone service. Gas can be hard to find. At work, she doesn't have electricity in her cubicle, and access to the Internet is intermittent. Nonetheless, she is able to do her job.
Ruple is a licensed practical nurse with MedCom Care Management, a medical management organization in Covington, Louisiana. She entered the General Studies Degree Program six or seven years ago, she said, because, after nearly 20 years as an LPN, she wanted to become a registered nurse. She's fulfilled all of her nursing requirements now, except for some clinical work, and she's counting on her general studies degree to give her a leg up when she continues her education to earn a bachelor's degree in healthcare administration. Eventually, she wants to be a clinical operational coordinator.
Ruple plans to finish her course work and graduate with an Associate of Arts in General Studies this December. But first, she has to get back on track with her studies. Although she took her course materials with her when she fled New Orleans during Katrina, she was too distressed to do much
work. Nonetheless, she contacted her instructors to let them know what was happening. Phyllis Taylor, instructor for Ruple's art appreciation class, was amazed to hear from Ruple “in the midst of chaos. Dianne is an excellent student.”
As Hurricane Rita bore down on the Gulf Coast, with scheduled landfall on September 24, Ruple was preparing to evacuate New Orleans once again, this time to Alabama. But she vowed to return. “Regardless what happens (with Hurricane Rita),” she said, “I will come back home. I love where I live. I hope that people will come back. We will rebuild, just give us a little time. New Orleans is a great place to be.”
