Previously on When the Wind Turned:
Francine (Frankie) Rosenfeld walked through the wreckage of her Uptown home on August 30, remembering the days before the levees failed — the unease, the heat, the way her children sensed danger before adults dared to name it.
Jeremy, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Ochsner, worked through the storm’s approach, scrubbing in again and again as Katrina’s edge brushed the city.
Jacob felt the sky tighten.
Noah monitored every warning.
Eve clung to Maisie and AIM messages from her father.
Now the storm has struck for real.
New Orleans is flooding.
Families huddle in shelters.
Hospitals plunge into crisis.
And the Rosenfelds — separated by water and obligation — brace for the moment everything changes.
Chapter Four: The Day The Water Came
PART I — JEREMY
(New Orleans, August 30, 2005 — early morning)
The storm has already begun tearing at the city by the time the call comes.
Jeremy is still in his scrubs, still smelling of antiseptic and sweat and sleepless hours in the OR at Ochsner, when Dr. Mitchell bursts into the staff room, phone pressed to his ear.
“They need backup downtown,” Mitchell says. “Charity’s power is unstable. Tulane’s trauma wing is compromised. They’re asking for anyone with surgical credentials who can get there.”
Jeremy feels the words land like a punch to the ribs.
His first thought is the kids.
Frankie’s face floats through his mind.
He imagines Maisie curled against Eve’s legs.
Jacob’s anxious sky-weathering.
Noah’s math-logic braking fear.
His second thought is: I can’t get to them.
His third: I have to go anyway. Help them at Charity. Help as many people as he can. His work, his duty to patients. That was always within his control. He couldn’t guarantee that every life would be saved, but he could make sure he did his best. Always.
Mitchell tosses him a laminated badge, printed hastily, edges still warm:
LOUISIANA EMERGENCY MEDICAL CREDENTIALS
TEMPORARY HOSPITAL ACCESS – REGION 1
Issued: 08/30/2005 – Valid 72 Hours
Name: Jeremy J. Rosenfeld, MD
Role: Volunteer Trauma / Cardiothoracic Backup
Assigned: Charity Hospital (Temporary)
Authorization No.: EM-TEMP-CH-05-7721-R
Scanner Code: LA-FIC / 2005-00421
“National Guard unit is forming a transport line,” Mitchell says. “They’ll take you as close as the water allows.”
Water.
That’s the word everyone is trying not to say too loudly.
Jeremy grabs his bag. Grabs gloves. Doesn’t grab a change of clothes — there’s no point.
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