LIFE BEFORE & AFTER HURRICANE MARIA IN ST. CROIX:
MESHANA LABADIE’S STORY

Meshana Labadie is a 27 year- old resident of St. Croix. Her family is from St. Lucia and came to St. Croix when she was 9. She graduated from the St. Croix Educational Complex in 2008 and moved to Texas where she lived and worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant for 8 years. She attended Lee College and started out as social work major then transitioned to nursing. She worked as a CNA at San Jacinto Hospital in Baytown Texas and enjoyed working with different people. “We had patients that we called ‘frequent flyers’ and we would build a relationship with them. It’s difficult when they die," said. Ms. Labadie. She lost a few patients that she worked with. During those 8 years she visited home during Christmas vacations and summertime twice to be with her mother and sister. She moved back to STX Thanksgiving eve 2015 after she was in a terrible car accident and she came home for Xmas break and decided to move back home Feb 2016. The second week in April she got hired as patient sitter at Juan Luis Hospital where we worked up until Hurricane Maria.

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How did you first hear about Maria?

I heard about Maria through social media on Facebook. Irma happened first, Jose was supposed to be next, Maria skipped over Jose, we didn’t know what was going to happen until last minute. Everyone was stocking up. I usually work the overnight 12 a.m.-8 a.m. shift and I was glued to Facebook using the hospital’s wifi paying attention.

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Where did you spend the hurricane?

As night came on, it started raining. On Facebook people started sharing status’. Not even 12:00 p.m. I was worried about how my family was doing. I was checking in with everyone. The hospital lost Wifi at midnight. I was in the hospital with my co-workers. I went by the window, palm trees shaking, howls. i was thinking please don’t let anything smash. During that time I wasn’t with the patients. I was waiting to relieve the nurse at the next shift. So I just slept.

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What was it like during the hurricane?

I slept through it.

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What was it like after?

I woke up after 6:00 a.m. and took a shower and went outside. It looked like a ghost town. Peppertree Terrace was smashed into different pieces. I went upstairs and the patients were confused. The roof was leaking so I had to transfer some patients to a different room. I was feeding them and they didn’t really know what was going on. The hospital staff told us they we couldn’t leave.  I stayed there from Monday- Wed. Thursday I left because I was very worried about my family.  My car was okay and my coworkers told me the highway was best. I watched every line as if it was a live wire. In Williams Delight roofs were gone and everything was in the road. I scratched my car while I was driving in and didn't care because I needed to get to my family. I saw all the trees down and half my roof was gone. My mom’s car was banged up. In the house there was water on the floor. They left during the storm because it got so bad. I left, and drove down to Good Hope School where they were staying.

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My friend Allison in Texas, told me to send her info to apply for FEMA. I received a check for $500 for necessities. We registered at FEMA at Alexander Henderson and the military handed out materials. I got a tarp.  After the tarp was installed, they swept out the water and sprayed the walls of the house with bleach. I threw away materials on the side and lifted up tiles. I saved what I had. All this was done 2 weeks after the storm because we couldn’t even go near the house before that.

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Now: No one is living in the house. Her neighborhood has power. The SBA, insurance companies and FEMA came to give us an estimate. Sprint has charged her a $1000 cell phone bill that is now reduced to $700 due to ‘international calls’ made two days after the hurricane where there was barely any service.

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What are you doing now?

After Maria, I worked for about a week before my supervisor told me that they didn’t need any sitters until further notice. The hospital didn’t give me any layoff notice. I went away for a wedding and after I returned home on October 5, they told me they didn’t need me. They handed me the letter and I applied for unemployment. I currently work as a direct care worker at Sister Emma Cottage for the disabled. It’s full-time, with benefits 12-8 shift. The job has enough resources. They have so many supplies they are turning people away. They just got power. Many of the people don’t speak.  There are 12, 18, 24, 26 year olds who are handicapped, blind, deaf. I feel very supported by the director. I think it’s a great thing that people are hiring during the hurricane relief. If I wasn’t working I was considering relocating which is not what I wanted to do since I just moved back.  I didn’t stand in the distribution lines and I did get SNAP. We’ve been grilling and enjoying the rainforest since the hurricane.

What are your next steps?

Things have gotten much better. The island has come up since the hurricane. The sense of normalcy is coming back. I pre-registered for the Spring Semester in January to take 2-3 registered nursing classes. If after I finish I can find a job as a nurse, I’ll stay. As of now, I’m working, I have life, I have a home. I’m doing what I can.

September 19, 2017