Resilience and Hope: A Hurricane Survivor's Tale

Key elements for Lydia’s Story include:
To inform of what the hurricane survivors had to endure in Louisiana (purpose)
Readers of “Health Affairs”, other health professionals (audience)
Remain hopeful, have strength, have the desire to survive,have perseverance(topic)

Brideau made the narrative really “come alive” in various ways. One way was by describing the situation and condition of the hall that housed many of the hurricane survivors. Her choice of words makes it easy for the reader to understand the type of emotion both Lydia and Brideau felt. In the beginning of the narrative, it is quite clear that the first major emotion felt was fear. Towards the middle of the story, Brideau mentions that Lydia described the flooding as “...the

Colorado River.”, this alone helps create a clear image of what the storm looked like. Further in the reading, Brideau talks more of what Lydia had to do to escape the rising level of water, which include having too find high grounds. Lydia ends up crouching on top of her linen closet, where she waited for the water to recede. This leads to the feeling of sadness, picturing a small slender woman trying to escape nature’s wrath sounds both saddening and frightening.
Towards the end of the story, the emotion changes a bit, “...reason for her to return home one last time. She needed to get back to that linen closet. There on the top shelf was her family photo album...it would be the only thing from her past...take with her on her new journey.” This passage, helped me feel hope for Lydia. Although she had just endured a very difficult time period, that did not stop her from looking forward to her future. Finally, the last sentence we get the a similar sense from Brideau, “...Lydia’s story stays with me most...represents the essence of hope and determination…” By saying this, Brideau gives a sense of relief that Lydia has survived and is more than willing to continue with her life.