Kristin Whitty

President's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service

WhittyImproving Disaster Training is Goal of Nurse's Service

Hurricane Katrina had just passed through southeast Louisiana but that didn’t stop nurse practitioner Kristin Whitty from completing her dissertation defense on nurse preparedness for disasters.

Following that successful presentation, she then eagerly volunteered her services to work for the next few days in a temporary surge hospital in Baton Rouge that had been set up to treat people coming in from south Louisiana.  There she helped with a wide range of medical and nursing jobs, including putting patients on cardiac monitors, working with other volunteers from other states, and helping doctors from every specialty in interpreting the medications patients needed.

“I found the experience so rewarding,” said Whitty, an associate professor of nursing and the winner of this year’s President’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service. “Several of our Southeastern nurses and nursing students were also working in the temporary hospital and I was very impressed with them. The experience inspired me to get students more interested in volunteering during disasters. It is a great learning experience.”

It was the Hurricane Katrina experience that led to her involvement in the American Red Cross, an organization with which she has become closely connected. She took various Red Cross disaster training courses, so, when Hurricane Isaac hit in 2012, again volunteered her services at a temporary hospital in Addis in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Whitty currently serves on the board of the ARC Capital West Chapter for a second term and chairs the organization’s Cause Marketing Committee, the primary fund raising arm of the chapter. She is responsible for making an arrangement with Olindes Furniture and Ashley Furniture in Baton Rouge where customers get purchase discounts after making a small donation to the Red Cross. The companies also conduct a strong public affairs program on the ARC and hurricane preparedness during the season.

“Kristin is an inspiration to her board colleagues who sometimes approach fund raising with trepidation,” said Bobbi M. Zaunbrecher, executive director of the Louisiana Capital West Chapter. “We appreciate Kristin’s quiet, determined leadership at the American Red Cross. She has made a difference here in the Capital Area and in the capacity of the Red Cross as a whole,”

In addition to holding her masters in nursing from Southeastern, Whitty earned her doctorate from the LSU School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development, focusing on nursing preparedness for disasters. Later she earned her certifications as an adult nurse practitioner and a family nurse practitioner.

“It was during my dissertation that I realized Southeastern should include disaster training in its curriculum,” Whitty said.

Determined to learn more, Whitty applied to Homeland Security and got permission in 2007 to take two courses over 10 days in Aniston, Ala., in the famous “COBRA Alley” training facility that offers a realistic environment for training in disasters global terrorism. There she trained in response to genuine toxic environments that included working real chemical agents such as Sarin and VX nerve agents while wearing protective clothing and protective measures in handling weapons of mass destruction. She worked with various first responders, police and fire personnel and members of hazmat teams.

“After that training, I felt very empowered and confident,” she said. “I was certified to teach. My goal was to bring this training back to Southeastern because I felt it was something that was missing from our curriculum. It is an eye-opening course for the students who take it and we receive nothing but positive comments from the students.”

Because of her expertise, Whitty has been appointed to the Louisiana Emergency Response Network, a governing board whose role is to work with regions of the state to ensure trauma, stroke and heart victims get to the right place, at the right time and receive proper treatment. Nominated by the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and appointed by the governor, she is now in her second term on the LERN Board.

Whitty is involved in other service activities as well, serving as a volunteer with the annual fund- raising campaign for the Grief and Recovery Center of Baton Rouge, Our Lady of Mercy Church, Habitat for Humanity, current president of the Southeaster’s Rho Zeta Chapter of the national nursing honor society of Sigma Theta Tau and as a former member of the Southeastern Faculty Senate representing the School of Nursing.

“Kristin has provided exemplary service to the state through her work to improve disaster relief and emergency services,” said Ann Carruth, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “She has volunteered countless hours as a nurse practitioner during natural disasters for FEMA and other disaster relief organizations.”