Within the doors of the first floor, countless volunteers dressed in scrubs and red vests roam the halls, visit rooms and frequently check in to the main office for instructions or more oxygen tanks. Fourteen oxygen tanks are clustered in front of the desk in the main office. Torn sheets of paper with the word “EMPTY” written on them are taped onto eight of the tanks. One of the volunteers walks in and says, “I can’t believe this is out already,” and labels yet another empty oxygen tank. Betsy Cheramie Ayo Hall became a safehouse on Aug. 27 for those with special needs as Hurricane Katrina approached the Louisiana coast. Any evacuee who has special medical needs and requires medical attention is admitted into this special needs shelter.

“At this point we’re trying to tend to all the medical needs of those individuals who were affected by Hurricane Katrina and need medical attention,” Takeisha Davis, region three medical director for the Louisiana Office of Public Health, said. “We’re unsure of how long this (shelter) will last. Eventually we will get down to a small number of people who will continue to need medical attention and may not have somewhere else to go. We’re actively planning now for where those individuals may need to go, like other hospitals, nursing homes, places that they would be able to stay for a long period of time. We have to remember that these people have lost everything. This storm devastated their homes.”

According to Davis, the shelter has been very successful in reuniting families and treating people so that they can move on to the general shelter. This has been a rewarding experience for Davis, she said.

“We’re going to make sure that even if they’re not in the Betsy Ayo building, that they have a place to go,” Davis said. “We’re like a little family. All of us are starting afresh, and most people have lost just about everything they own. The majority of them are happy because they’re alive.”

This shelter has seen a tremendous outpouring from local physicians and pharmacies in the donation of medications, according to Davis. Arrangements have been made with Wal-Mart and Rite-Aid to provide medications that the shelter does not have on site. The federal government is also helping provide medications for those in need.

Volunteers have been coming from the New Orleans-area hospitals, Tulane, LSU and charity hospitals, according to Davis. A lot of medical personnel have been displaced, she said.

“I’ve been working in Thibodaux for two months,” Davis said. “I was living in New Orleans. Luckily, I found a place, so hopefully I’ll be moving in within the next three weeks.”

According to Davis, immense quantities of people from the community have been volunteering. The shelter has had a vast amount of support from medical personnel who live in Thibodaux.

“They have come in daily trying to volunteer and provide care for these individuals,” Davis said. “We spoke with HTV and told them that we needed volunteers. Thibodaux Regional has been an ambassador in our area in getting medical personnel to come in. We’ve asked for it and we’ve gotten it.”

Serious illnesses have been treated at the special needs shelter.

“These people were stranded on top of roofs and in attics for four and five days, so we have had individuals become acutely ill,” Davis said.

The hallways of Ayo are rich in patients wandering around with canes, walkers, wheelchairs or their own two feet; volunteers handing out snacks; and doctors walking from room to room. The volunteers hand out peanut butter crackers, vanilla wafers, apples and water or punch.

One hundred and sixty five patients occupy the second floor of Ayo, according to Davis. Fifty of those patients are utilizing the hospital beds that were already in Ayo, while the other patients are using cots that are in classrooms.

The desks are pushed up against the walls of the classrooms and the cots are spread throughout. The patients are occupied with crossword puzzles, books, radios or conversations. Religion is present. Gospel music is heard in almost every room, and women handing out rosaries visit the patients for a brief moment.

“Does anyone want rosaries?,” one of the women asks.

“Oh yeah, baby,” one of the patients replies.

One man quickly grabs a rosary and begins to pray.

“N 39! N 39! A three and a nine,” is heard from another room. Five older ladies are gathered in a circle, sitting in desks, playing bingo. Among those ladies is 54-year-old Elizabeth Pierre, who says she plays bingo, checkers and Dominos with a few others every day.

“We’ve been blessed,” Pierre says. “This is like the comfort of home. We’re getting our medicine and everything we need. We eat three times a day and get snacks. We’re better than blessed.”

According to Pierre, everyone at the shelter is like family.

“Everybody looks out for each other,” Pierre said. “The volunteers are like family. They’re just so helpful. They bring us anything we need. Even if they think that we need something, they bring it to us. All of our needs are being handled.”

The special needs shelter, as well as the general shelters, provide a laundry service, according to Pierre.

“That was one thing that surprised me,” Pierre said. “We put our clothes in a bag with our names and numbers on it, and they do the laundry. I thought that was so sweet, you know.”

Two 16-year old volunteers who take clothing orders snuck in to the special needs shelter after being asked to volunteer at the general shelter because they wanted to continue volunteering there.

“We went to help at the general shelter for like an hour,” Morgan Smith from South Lafourche said. “We just wanted to come back here.”

“We help probably about 10 hours a day,” Melissa Guidry, from South Lafourche said.

According to the two girls, the patients at the special needs shelter have become family to them.

“There are these three people who sit in the hallways, two men and a lady, and we call them Curly, Larry and Moe,” Smith said. “They call us (and another friend) Huey, Dewy and Louie.”

“There’s this other lady here, and we call her grandma,” Guidry said.

Guidry and Smith have even received help from the patients.

“The patients will be outside to get some fresh air, and they’ll help us,” Smith said. “They know that even in a time of need you still need to have a smile on your face.