Director Research & Lab Safety, Office of Environmental Health & Safety (OEHS)
When Pam Fatland returned to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the city felt unrecognizable. “No restaurants or groceries, no businesses open, complete darkness due to lack of street lights in the city—just a feeling of eeriness,” she recalled.
At the time, Pam was a Lab Safety Officer in Tulane’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety (OEHS), and her team played a critical role in reopening the university. They inspected every building, lab, and dormitory, often navigating by flashlight through dark, unairconditioned stairwells. “We used flashlights and climbed stairs… Our office set up in a couple of rooms in Deming, and we had to walk to Tidewater and up eleven flights to get our PPE and gear,” she said.
With nowhere in the city to buy food, the university provided daily bagged lunches—“a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and cookies or chips”—before they headed back out. Before any lab occupant could return, Pam and her colleagues delivered personal safety talks, instructing them to check chemicals and eyewashes, clean out refrigerators and freezers, and leave before nightfall. The work revealed rampant mold, flood damage, and “refrigerators with huge flies everywhere.”
The daily commute from the North Shore added to the strain. Roads were blocked by fallen trees, and even reaching TNPRC was difficult. Pam also had personal challenges—enrolling her children in temporary schools and caring for her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer just months after the storm. “Many people chose not to return, and it was sad to lose track of friends and colleagues,” she remembered.
Even with the hardship, Pam said she was “excited to have the challenge and opportunity to prepare the Tulane community to come back. I felt like I had a purpose and played an important role in the university’s continued existence.” She found meaning in listening to returning colleagues’ stories and offering reassurance: “I was glad to be a comfort for others.”
Pam’s takeaway is straightforward: “Pack better when leaving for a hurricane… and plan how you will communicate with others to let them know you are safe.” And her message to those who were at Tulane during that time remains simple: “We made it! We survived! Thank you, Tulane, for being there and taking care of your own! Roll Wave!!!”
