CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte native, Mandy Groulx, has been living in Fort Myers, Florida for just over a year, where she works as a child life specialist in the pediatric intensive care unit at a children's hospital.
The East Carolina University graduate admitted to WCNC's Jane Monreal, she didn't know what to expect with her first hurricane.
"I think most people in Fort Myers did not really think it was coming directly towards us until maybe 12 hours before and then started to get really serious," recalled Groulx. "At the hospital we have teams. Team A works the hurricane, so they stay at the hospital throughout the whole hurricane. And then, Team B relieves Team A once the hurricane is done. So I'm on Team A."
Groulx described the experience as a reverse snow globe.
"As you're walking around and working and you get a chance to look outside, you see the wind getting harder and harder and faster and faster. And then eventually we started seeing the cars flooding," the healthcare worker said. "As I see just a little bit, I turned to a coworker and was like, 'Are we supposed to go and move our cars or something? And she's like, Nope, it's out of our hands now.' So, it was weird. It was hard to watch. I think the hardest part was, we came here to help and be here to help our patients. But we also felt very helpless, not being able to leave."
Although her team was eventually relieved, she stayed an extra night because she was unable to get to her apartment.
On top of that, the main water line for the hospital also broke. The hospital had to evacuate each of its patients to other hospitals around the state. Her role was to provide psychological and emotional support for patients, their families, and even her own co-workers. All the while, she started to think about how stressful it was without a car. Groulx said she realizes many people lost much more and didn't want to exhaust resources in her area.
"They lost their homes, their businesses, their houses," said Groulx. But the more that I've talked to people, everyone lost something in their own way, everyone's grieving in their own way."
Groulx's mother, Lisa Groulx, went to social media and people responded, including a first responder in York County. The Charlotte parent picked it up days ago. She told WCNC Charlotte she plans to fill it with donations for victims of Hurricane Ian before driving it to Fort Myers next week.
"It's just been great to have such an understanding and also being able to find transportation in such a quick time," said Groulx. "I thought it would be months without a car, honestly."
There is a Go Fund Me page to help with other expenses to get Groulx back on her feet again, including the expense of replacing her car.