Clinical Administrator II, Tulane Surgery
In 2005, Patricia Kirsch was working as a Program Coordinator for Student Education when Hurricane Katrina hit. Three moments remain vivid in her memory: traveling to Houston to work with Baylor’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) Department, returning to Tulane’s darkened 8th floor to retrieve files, and later working out of Poydras with the entire Surgery Department crowded around conference tables.
Her relocation to Houston came after Tulane’s GME leadership reached out, and she credits the work there with keeping her grounded. “I think being able to work allowed me to stay sane,” she said. Despite her own home being flooded, she leaned on camaraderie with colleagues who shared meals and supported one another.
The months following Katrina became a whirlwind of responsibility. Juggling multiple roles, Patricia spent her days working in another department and her evenings completing Student Education tasks—all while driving every other weekend between Houston, Thibodaux, and New Orleans to care for her daughter and oversee her home’s rebuilding. Yet she remembers that time as one of purpose and community: “Faculty and staff came together as one… bonding and laughing a lot in the evening.”
Acts of kindness from that period still resonate with her. “Twenty years ago, if you lost it—a stranger hugged you. No one lost patience with each other,” she said. Her mother opened her home to 13 people at any given time, and a colleague’s husband even began rebuilding Patricia’s flooded house before her insurance claim was settled.
For Patricia, the Katrina experience reinforced the importance of empathy and compassion. “We do not need a traumatic event to motivate kindness,” she reflected. “Proactively cultivating empathy and compassion builds a more understanding and supportive society.”
Looking back, she remains grateful for the resilience of both the city and Tulane. “New Orleanians are in general a resilient people, and there is a sense of belonging fostered at Tulane. I am grateful and blessed to have been a part of this environment for 32 years.”
