Tyler

By CINDY MALLETTE
Staff Writer

Jenny Narkiewicz came to Tyler aboard a school bus over the weekend. Wearing a full-torso brace and confined for the most part to a wheelchair, the Beaumont resident heard the warnings about Hurricane Gustav's potential for damage and knew she had to leave town.

The timing couldn't have been worse. The Lamar University employee was on leave-of-absence after undergoing spinal fusion surgery. Her surgery took place exactly one week before Gustav hit.

"I actually planned on going elsewhere, but a very nice lady suggested I come here and it turned out to be better, since I ended up going to the hospital," she said.

Ms. Narkiewicz was one of 60 special-needs evacuees staying at the federally managed medical station set up in the Glass Recreation Center.

"These people have taken wonderful care of everything," she said. "They make sure that a few times each day I get up and walk and that I wear my brace."

When Rita hit three years ago, Ms. Narkiewicz fled with her three dogs and cat to a friend's house in Alabama.

"Because of the back surgery, I felt it would be too much of a burden on my friend, with me being just out of surgery. I chose to go through 211 and come here as a special needs instead," she said.

Even though she'd just had surgery, Ms. Narkiewicz said the evacuation for Gustav went better than for Rita.

"I think the evacuation this year was run much more smoothly than it was back then. We didn't run into very much traffic. Coming north, we didn't see the traffic we saw last time, during Rita," she said.

Her pets did make it to safety, although they couldn't come with her on the bus.

"They're in Alabama with friends," she said. "I just knew it would be a rough trip for me, with three dogs, a cat, me in a brace and all the other people. It would be too much."

She said her stay in Tyler has been "wonderful."

"All of the medical personnel here are angels. They have taken such good care of all of us," she said. "I thank all of these people here, because without them, I don't know what I would have done."

MEET AND GREET: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt talks to Beaumont resident Jenny Narkiewcz at the special needs shelter at Glass Recreation Center in Tyler on Tuesday.
(Staff Photo By Tom Turner)