No Ordinary Heroes: 8 Doctors, 30 Nurses, 7,000 Prisoners and a Category 5 Hurricane
On the night of August 27, 2005, Dr. Demaree Inglese was one of many New Orleans residents convinced that approaching Hurricane Katrina would pass with minimal impact. The next few days' events would prove how mistaken they all were, and Dr. Inglese, medical director of the New Orleans city jail, would have to lead his staff through a crisis of deadly proportions. With compelling, shocking detail, No Ordinary Heroes recounts the drama that unfolded at the jail between August 26 and September 2, 2005. Faced with a prison compound that administrators had refused to evacuate, Dr. Inglese and his colleagues-deputies, nurses, and doctors-had a monumental disaster on their hands. Massive flooding transformed the sprawling jail complex into an island in the crippled city. Without power or running water, and with food stores dwindling, conditions at the jail deteriorated rapidly as temperatures inside soared in the blistering summer heat. Cut off from help, the medical staff struggled to care for thousands of inmates, staff, and neighborhood residents while deputies struggled to maintain order. Through it all loomed the constant menace of the prison inmates, many of them desperate to survive or possibly escape. Rioting prisoners, burning buildings, SWAT team rescues, and medical emergencies all conspired to create a storm within a storm: a trial weathered by the courage and perseverance of a dedicated few who worked to the breaking point and beyond.
Written with the taut suspense of a gripping thriller, No Ordinary Heroes vividly re-creates seven days that felt like an eternity to a handful of abandoned heroes-and is a stark, revealing testament to the power of humanitarian commitment in the most dire circumstances.
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina, reported to be the strongest hurricane in recorded history, made landfall on the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The storm and subsequent flooding demolished many coastal cities, including New Orleans. The Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's Office, the sixth largest jail in the country, was located in the heart of the city. The sprawling complex was devastated, trapping deputies, medical staff, and family members with nearly 7,000 dangerous inmates for five days. As the flood waters rose, supplies diminished, and rioting broke out. What began as a routine disaster response escalated into a struggle to survive, and the jail's medical staff became prisoners of the storm.
In the end, one thing was clear: these were no ordinary heroes.
""Take the tragedy of Katrina and New Orleans, then add being marooned in a large jail complex with deadly snakes, psychotics without medication, rioting prisoners, little food or medicine, and just the Hippocratic Oath to guide you. These are the suspenseful ingredients for a gut-wrenching, page-turning true story that only Dr. Demaree Inglese can tell --and he tells it brilliantly in No Ordinary Heroes."" --Dennis M. Powers, author of The Raging Sea, Treasure Ship, and Sentinel of the Seas
""No Ordinary Heroes offers an inside look at one of the most horrific disasters of all time. It's a riveting story of perseverance and dedication to duty, of unsung professionals doing their level best to save lives in the midst of a nightmare of misery and violence. There's no putting this one down."" -- John Gilstrap, author of Six Minutes to Freedom
""This riveting book is full of stories about true heroes, regular men and women who put their duty to others above their own personal safety. The Sheriff's department, deputies, medical personnel and staff struggled through the most extreme circumstances imaginable with incredible courage and bravery. As former Criminal Sheriff of Orleans Parish, I am truly proud to call all of these valiant heroes my friends."" --Charles C. Foti, Jr., Attorney General, State of Louisiana
"For six days during the Katrina disaster, Dr. Dem Inglese takes reader
