Recovery, Inspiration and Caring for the Workforce - 20 Years After Hurricane Katrina

The Facts: Katrina – Largest Response Ever

August 29 marked the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in Buras, Louisiana, about 60 miles southeast of New Orleans. The Category 3 storm was the costliest in U.S. history, totaling $125B, and among the deadliest killing nearly 1,400 people.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation order 21 hours before landfall. Although 80% of the city’s population managed to flee, 100,000 to 150,000 remained. When the storm struck, it breached levees guarding the city and 10 inches of rain placed 20% of the city underwater within hours, and 80% within days. The Louisiana Superdome, serving as a shelter for tens of thousands of residents, was beset by resource failures. Katrina caused the largest US migration since the 1930s Dust Bowl, with the city’s population down 20% from 2000. (Source: 1440 Daily)

As reported by the American Red Cross, the largest single disaster relief effort ever undertaken by the organization was the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In addition to killing so many people, the storm left millions homeless. Hurricanes Rita and Wilma followed soon after, worsening the devastation. 

In the largest sheltering operation in its history, the Red Cross opened nearly 1,400 evacuation shelters in 27 states and the District of Columbia. More than 3.8 million overnight shelter stays were provided. More than 90 kitchens were set up to prepare meals. Five days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the Red Cross served nearly one million meals in a single day. More than 68 million meals were served during the response. More than 244,000 disaster workers, 95 percent of them volunteers, responded to help the hurricane survivors. More than 4 million people received emergency assistance through the Red Cross.

 

Perspectives: Kay Wilkins and Jack Herrmann on Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Central Texas Floods and Care for the Workforce

Two Red Crossers’ share perspectives on being impacted, taking care of their staff, responding to big disasters and now what Red Cross is doing to support its workforce 20 years after Hurricane Katrina and 14 years after 9/11. Thank you to Kay Wilkins, Jack Herrmann and every single Red Cross responder!

“When I think back on Hurricane Katrina, I think of the resilience of people, how the landscape changed for all people affected and for the Red Cross. Red Cross demonstrated its ability to change and adapt. I also think of the stories of my staff, and how many of them had to work in a challenging environment that they were not trained for.”

– Kay Wilkins

Kay Wilkins

Kay Wilkins worked for the American Red Cross for 45 years, before retiring last February. She was the CEO for the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross when Hurricane Katrina, and resulting rains and levee breaks, flooded 80% of New Orleans. Several years after Katrina, she was selected for President Barack Obama's "Champions of Change" program that honored everyday Americans doing extraordinary work to make a difference in their communities

During the response and recovery phases of Hurricane Katrina, Kay and her team worked tirelessly to meet the needs of her community, but at a time when others took only lessons about organizational response from Katrina, she declared that her chapter would become a leader in community preparedness and resilience building. Programs like “The Pillowcase Project” to help kids prepare for evacuation and “Senior Preparedness Packs” to help seniors be ready originated under Kay’s direction. The Pillowcase Project became a nationwide model for preparedness.

Following the hurricane, Red Cross was able to hire art therapists and teachers who were out of work due to the hurricane. The Pillowcase Program actually sprung out of a preparedness program piloted to help local college kids pack what they needed for evacuations into their pillowcases. The program was next tailored for children in grades 1 through 3, teaching them what to do if they were scared in a disaster. It involved lessons in disaster preparedness, what to take with you in your pillowcase during an evacuation, and teachers could send preparedness information for their families home with the children. The program evolved nationwide, with modules for earthquakes, fires, and other disasters for children K-3 then later K-6. 

When asked what she remembers first when thinking back on the Katrina response, Kay said, “I think of the resilience of people, how the landscape changed for all people affected and for the Red Cross. Red Cross demonstrated its ability to change and adapt. I also think of the stories of my staff, and how many of them had to work in a challenging environment that they were not trained for.” 

“We had AmeriCorps workers who only trained for three weeks then deployed, and they did Herculean things,” she remembered. “One in her late teens was managing a shelter when supplies were running out. She had to ration food and water. For example, one cup had a line drawn on it to the level that it could be filled for each person. She had to adapt and persevere. I still think of her today.”

“I also remember the faces of my chapter’s Board of Directors,” said Kay. “We’d meet in Baton Rouge, since people were scattered. We’d come together to identify unmet needs, and whichever Board member could best help, would step up and make the connections we needed… I also remember a particular conversation with Becky McCorry who had come to help from National Headquarters. We were discussing how to best help our staff face the next day. She said, ‘Focus on each hour, what you have to do that hour.’ I still think about her counsel. She was a much-needed advocate and mentor to me at that time.” 

Kay sees great progress in how the American Red Cross cares for its own disaster workforce now. “Katrina served as a starting point for conversation about how we take care of others, but not our own staff. We needed to not only see how workers were physically but also mentally. We also needed to be prepared to backfill for staff who were affected by a disaster directly.”

“Today there is more of an intentional desire to support staff,” she said. “I think Katrina, to a degree, overshadows Hurricane Ida, which was also devastating to so many. Our home was 87% destroyed by Ida, and Red Cross sent representatives to come check on me personally at my house every few days. They were great.”

“If we don’t take care of our employees and volunteers, we can’t shine as bright.”

Kay started with Red Cross as a volunteer lifeguard at Auburn University. In addition to leading the Southeast Louisiana Chapter after Hurricane Katrina, she also played a big role in Georgia as interim CEO and is the retired director of External Relations for the Southeast and Caribbean Division American Red Cross. and volunteers with the Red Cross. She especially likes her role as an executive sponsor (mentor) in the Caribbean. Kay still lives in New Orleans, has three kids and three grandchildren.

Her diligence and commitment to disaster survivors, her staff and the future of preparedness will forever be remembered by many a Red Crosser. When Kay retired, her staff in Georgia wrote, “Kay’s countless hugs, empathetic ear and kind heart have left a lasting impression on all of us. We are forever grateful.”

“Not all disasters are the same. A reaction can be triggered by some and not others. No matter how seasoned you are, you may not be immune to the psychological challenges caused by the next disaster or seeing news reports of a crisis years ago. There may be delayed affects. Be open to this, especially around anniversary dates.”
- Jack Herrmann

Jack Herrmann

We spoke with Jack Herrmann, Senior Director, Client Care in Disaster Cycle Services, after he had just returned from two weeks of R&R vacationing on a river cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium following his service as the Mass Fatality Task Group Chief in the Red Cross response to the Central Texas Floods. Jack also worked on TWA Flight 800 following 9/11, the recent DCA Airline crash in Washington D.C., Hurricanes Sandy and Rita, and the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Jack’s current leadership role for Red Cross national headquarters encompasses the Client Care Program including Disaster Health, Disaster Mental Health (DMH), Spiritual Care, Disaster Disability Integration, and more.

He worked as the Client Services Administrator for Disaster Heath, Mental Health and Spiritual Care services for two weeks in Baton Rouge, LA at the beginning of the Katrina response. For the 9/11 response he was a Disaster Mental Health volunteer in New York City, and the New York State Lead for Disaster Mental Health while living in Rochester.

We asked Jack what people should expect with the heightened retrospective news coverage around Hurricane Katrina and 9/11. He said, “Not all disasters are the same. A reaction can be triggered by some disasters and not others. No matter how seasoned you are, you may not be immune to the psychological challenges caused by the next disaster or seeing news reports of a crisis years ago. There may be delayed affects. Be open to this, especially around anniversary dates.”

“For example, I realized one year after 9/11 while having coffee on my porch that it felt like a fog just lifted from my brain,” Jack remembered. “I’d been walking around like this for a whole year after experiencing the trauma of others through my volunteer and professional work without really realizing it.”

One thing Jack is most proud of in all the years he’s been responding to disasters is the experience he acquired that enabled him to develop a disaster mental health course and implement it across the state of New York… “Therefore, expanding the DMH capacity of the state. This includes training mental health responders in how to work with families when the authorities are identifying or have identified their deceased loved ones through DNA samples.”

Jack shared that while currently the Red Cross does not have a consistent policy or practice on how the organization as a whole supports its workforce before, during and after a deployments, and it is largely inconsistently addressed across the nation – chapter to chapter, region to region, division to division – Red Cross did commission a workgroup 18 months ago to begin gathering information on what at the time was being done to support disaster workers, particularly post-deployment, and what the recommendations are for the future. Ultimately, and at a high level, the findings suggested the organization develop more comprehensive policy and practices that promote resilience building and supporting workers (and their families) before, during and after disaster deployment. Jack says, “These recommendations are being incorporated into Red Cross’ overall Disaster Mental Health Program Review, which identifies other directions for the future of the DMH program and will be presented to leadership in the coming couple months.”

“We also instituted a few targeted support programs following some of our more recent complex disaster responses, including the Maui Wildfires (2023), LA Wildfires (2025), American Airlines Crash (2025), and more recently the Central Texas Floods (2025),” said Jack. All these disasters involved multiple fatalities and as a result, the Red Cross wanted to ensure that they acknowledged the potential impact of responding to a mass fatality incident, and in some cases provided support to the responder both during and after their deployment.  

Shannon Green and Shannon Goodhue from Jack’s team provided some details of the support provided to deployed workers for those incidents, which included both mental health and spiritual care, but also some direct Red Cross related services, including financial support for those who were personally impacted in the disaster (i.e., LA Wildfires).

Shannon Green explained that DMH support was integrated across all levels for some of these disaster responses, “Providing consistent and compassionate care to staff throughout their disaster response experience.” On the ground, DMH staff offered both one-on-one and team-based support in the field and at different sites, facilitated targeted mini-workshops on self-care and compassion fatigue, and helped increase awareness about the emotional impact of disaster work. 

Help remained available around the clock to deliver psychological first aid and emotional support as needed. These efforts were reinforced through close collaboration between DMH and Workforce teams, which improved mutual understanding and streamlined referrals for mental health support. Communication between DMH and leadership was strengthened, enabling real-time feedback and coordinated planning. 

Visual tools such as signage, and DMH-identifying ribbons helped staff easily recognize support team members. Initiatives like “Mental Health Moments,” care packages, and on-the-job check-ins—whether individually or with teams—further reinforced a culture of care. Compassionate and consistent messaging through self-care reminders in daily Incident Action Plans and meetings helped embed wellness into the operational rhythm of their deployment. DMH team members continued their support through post-deployment responder check ins, “Welcome Home” calls, offering continued connection and care. 

“The outcomes of these efforts were successful in increasing access to mental health resources and created a greater sense for responders of being supported and appreciated,” said Shannon. “Together, these initiatives contributed to a more resilient, responsive, and emotionally healthy workforce during disaster relief operations.”  

More Great Resources and Insights

A Disaster Expert’s Guide To Preventing Employee Burnout, by Trevor Riggen, President of Humanitarian Services at the American Red Cross and a Forbes Councils Member. Published July 17, 2025.

https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2025/07/17/a-disaster-experts-guide-to-preventing-employee-burnout/

Champions of Change, under the Obama administration https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/champions/american-red-cross/kay-wilkins