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Jefferson City ER doc moves from calamity to stability

Dr. Alan Lemerande
News Tribune photo

By NATALIE FIELEKE
News Tribune

Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 12:00 AM CST

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Chalmette suburb of New Orleans, Dr. Alan Lemerande and his family were safe -- but surrounded by water 16 feet deep -- at the hospital where he was employed as an emergency room doctor.

"It honestly wasn't that scary, though it was bizarre to stand on the roof of the hospital and all you could see was water," Lemerande said. "We told the kids 'This is an adventure.'"

Lemerande and his wife, Linda, who met while they were serving in the Peace Corps together, were already used to extreme situations.

"We went without running water or electricity for years," he said. "A lot of people were going bonkers, so we tried to be more calm."

Lemerande had faith his own family would make it through the situation and he and three other doctors went about seeing to the needs of about 100 patients.

The first floor of the hospital was flooded, so doctors worked to transport patients by boat to a makeshift hospital housed in a jail.

He says the treatment he provided focused mostly on dealing with the medical needs of people trapped in the city, such as those in nursing homes who no longer had their breathing machines or individuals whose blood pressure was skyrocketing without their medication.

"We had to do a lot of things we'd normally do with electricity without," he said. "We ran codes with flashlights ... I did CPR on a man in a boat."

A helicopter eventually transported patients from the Chalmette jail by helicopter.

Lemerande says he knows the hospital won't be rebuilt because now there's nobody left in the suburb.

The hurricane didn't put Lemerande out of a job, but it did speed up his move to Mid-Missouri to become an emergency room doctor at Capital Region Medical Center.

Lemerande had planned on starting in his new position in February, but he began working in Jefferson City in November.

Shortly after joining her husband in Jefferson City, Linda gave birth to the couple's fourth child.

Now, life has become more stable, the couple is homeschooling their children and looking forward to sharing their love for baseball, music and holistic health with the community.

Young patients to Capital Region's ER may get a complimentary copy of Lemerande's CD, "A One Time Only Kid," which is full of songs kids can sing that also encourage them to be well-behaved.

The couple bought land to build a 7,200-square-foot building that Lemerande says will house an indoor Astroturf-covered baseball field for indoor-league play, something he has enjoyed about other communities he has called home.

"We don't drive fancy cars, we don't need to go to the opera, we're kind of simple," he said.

"Girl Scouts and baseball are what we're into."

nfieleke@newstribune.com


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Jefferson City ER doc moves from calamity to stability

By NATALIE FIELEKENews Tribune

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By NATALIE FIELEKE
News Tribune