Beatrice A.J. Scott, 83, knew right away she was on the wrong evacuation bus.
Scott had fled her home Aug. 28, seeking refuge at New Orleans’ Charity Hospital, where her niece is an administrator. She ended up trapped at the hospital for several days, mistaken for a mental patient and sent to a secured state facility.
Once military crews finally began evacuating the hospital Friday, Scott got separated from her assigned group of hospital staff and volunteers.
She said she was herded inside a bus carrying about 40 rehabilitated drug addicts, mental patients and convicts en route to a secured, all-male facility at Central Louisiana State Hospital in Pineville.
Scott tried to explain the mix-up, but she was given little choice.
“They told me I could get off the bus if I wanted to when we got close to the convention center,” she said. “But I would have to walk 10 blocks back to the hospital with water up to my waist. I couldn’t get off. I didn’t have a chance.”
Hospital staffers and a bus driver called ahead to let security staff at the facility know Scott would be arriving, but somehow more wires got crossed.
As soon as she exited the bus five hours later, she was frisked for weapons, as were all the other patients.
“At that point, I was ready to walk,” Scott said. “I informed them I was leaving.” In Aurora, Scott’s youngest daughter, Y.E. Scott, was tracking every frustrating step of her mother’s progress.
“She had angels along the way,” Y.E. Scott said.
Hospital social worker Jeanie Simmering took it upon herself to help Scott. She moved Scott to a safer building on the hospital campus, gave her money, booked her a flight to Denver and assigned staff members to stay with Scott at the airport.
Continental Airlines reduced her flight fare by more than half.
“One of my relatives told me they were praying for me,” said Scott, who spoke from the safety of her daughter’s home Sunday. “I asked her to pray that I would be able to continue handling whatever came my way.”
Staff writer Sheba Wheeler can be reached at 303-820-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com.
