Three New Orleans events discuss Katrina books

Three different author events focusing on Hurricane Katrina books will occur in August 2019 at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019

Painting Katrina, Phil Sandusky

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Sandusky returned home and began recording the devastation. The result is a collection that offers a vision of the beauty and fragility of New Orleans and displays the awesome power of nature. The book contains 76 color reproductions: 30 created a year before Katrina; 30 in the aftermath of the storm, focusing primarily on scenes at the lakefront and the Lower Ninth Ward; and the last 16 painted one year after Katrina, showing the city’s recovery. Sandusky prefaces the paintings with background about his style and a journal chronicling his experience.

Sandusky has been a New Orleans resident since 1984. His works are in the permanent collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana State Museum, Historic New Orleans Collections, and museums in Jacksonville, Fla., Framingham, Mass., New York, and Umbria, Italy. Sandusky teaches landscape, figure and portrait painting at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art.

7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019

Coast Guard Heroes of New Orleans, Captain Robert Mueller (ret.)

Mueller’s premise is that “With disaster scenarios of increasing interest and disaster preparedness of paramount importance, it’s time to take a deeper look at what went very right before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.” The unprecedented surface rescue put into action under Capt. Mueller took place with little fanfare, and saved the lives of 25,000 people by boat and 8,500 by helicopter.

Capt. Robert G. Mueller, U.S. Coast Guard (ret.) led the surface rescue operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He retired after 30 years in the service and is the vice president for compliance at Turn Services, a towboat and fleeting company. He is an adjunct professor at Tulane University teaching Homeland Security in the graduate program.

7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019

Panel – John Batty, Laura Dragon and Mikel Schaeffer

Voices of Angels, John Batty

Throughout the devastating winds, rising waters, and August heat, nurses stuck by their patients. They improvised new emergency procedures and methods of record-keeping and patient transport, all without power or reliable information. These angels saved lives while their world fell apart around them. Voices of Angels is a case study and planning guide essential for facilities facing hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, and a host of other issues that affect medical centers nationwide.

John R. Batty is an experienced psychiatric nurse who interviewed the nurses who treated patients during and after Hurricane Katrina. He and co-author Gail Tumulty presented the nurses’ experiences at an American Nurses’ Association conference. Batty’s research into hospital conditions and evacuations gave him unparalleled experience in disaster management. Batty, a former writer for First NBC Bank, lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Hurricane Boy, Laura Dragon

Hollis Williams is a middle-school student in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. His father absent and his mother dead, Hollis and his siblings live with his grandmother. He dreams of reconnecting with his father, but Hurricane Katrina strikes and devastates his home and his plans. The young boy’s family is trapped on the roof of their house, waiting to be rescued. When help finally arrives, Hollis and his family are separated and sent hundreds of miles apart. 

Laura Dragon is a psychotherapist who works with children and adolescents at River Oaks Hospital in New Orleans. Her work with children who were separated from their families during Hurricane Katrina formed the genesis of Hurricane Boy. Dragon earned a master of arts degree in addictions counseling, and a master of social work degree from Tulane University.

Lost in Katrina, Mikel Schaeffer

This book offers emotional accounts of life before, during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina in St. Bernard, a parish that seemingly disappeared from the government’s sight. While President Bush was shaking hands with FEMA director Michael Browne on the fourth day after the storm, St. Bernard Parish residents were struggling to salvage what they could. Ordinary people did extraordinary things to save the parish that found itself almost completely submerged in floodwater. 

Mikel Schaefer spent his early years in St. Bernard Parish and graduated from the University of New Orleans. He is an executive producer at WWL-TV, the CBS affiliate in New Orleans. He was among the staff honored for broadcast coverage during Hurricane Katrina, and WWL-TV was awarded the 2005 George Foster Peabody Award, one of only four television stations in the nation to be honored.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.