Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Hurricane hero
Nurse gives up US holiday to help flood victims
A nurse who went to the aid of hurricane victims while visiting family in Houston has been speaking about the disaster after arriving back home this week.
Aileen Whatley was meant to be enjoying a relaxing week with her son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters when Hurricane Harvey struck, causing widespread flooding and devastation.
Speaking from her home in Broomfield, Herne Bay, the 56- year- old said: “It wasn’t exactly the break I was expecting but turned out to be rewarding for very different reasons.”
Mrs Whatley is a trained paediatric nurse and now works as a sexual health specialist for the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust in Medway.
But when the call went out over local social media for medical help, she dashed down to a community centre and organised the setting up of a first aid station.
She said: “Given that almost 80% of the city was flooded, we were just incredibly lucky the house belonging to my son Sam and daughter-in-law Toni in the Humble area of the city escaped by just a few feet because it is on higher ground.
Otherwise, we would have had our own battle on ours hands to save what we could.
“But it meant I could go down to the centre and offer help to the hundreds of people needing treatment or support as well as many walking wounded, including children and elderly people.”
Over the week, she continued acting as a triage nurse, assessing those coming into the centre soaked through and in various states of distress.
She said: “Some were slightly surprised to hear my English accent and even more so when I told them I was actually on holiday in the city, but they were also very grateful too.
“Unfortunately, the poorest parts of Houston seemed worst affected and many people have no medical or house insurance. It was very sad to see because they have lost everything and are just carrying a few possessions in a plastic sack.”
But Mrs Whatley was still able to spend some time with her new seven-week old granddaughter Aurora and her four-year-old granddaughter Darcey, who even went to the centre with her to give some of her dolls to local children who had lost their in the floods.
She said: “I was very proud of her and my son Sam who joined the effort to help the many pets stranded in the floodwaters.
“I have already booked my flight to go back to Houston for thanksgiving when hopefully I’ll be able to have a normal holiday with the family although I imagine the damage will still be evident.”