Emily Schnapp

HOLLISTON -- Emily Schnapp, a 27-year-old nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, knows firsthand just how destructive Mother Nature can be.

Already this year, she has traveled to care for the survivors of two devastating natural disasters: the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

In February, she flew in a helicopter above Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and saw the miles of destruction left behind after the tsunami receded Dec. 26, 2004.On a Navy ship, she treated survivors' broken bones and took care of sick, orphaned children.

She spent two months on a ship off Indonesia's coast as part of a relief effort organized by the group Project Hope.The work she and other nurses and doctors did earned her a trip to meet President Bush on the South Lawn of the White House.

In early September, she again was on an airplane bound for a region flattened by the ocean.She flew to Pensacola, Fla., and boarded the Navy ship USNS Comfort, which made its way to Pascagoula, Miss.

"It was very similar to the way the tsunami was, if not worse," Schnapp said Monday, four days after returning to Holliston.
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In the Gulf Coast region, like in southeast Asia, Schnapp said, she will never forget "seeing people and families that have lost absolutely everything, family members and everything they loved."

Schnapp said she feels it's her responsibility as a nurse to make these trips."Through both of them it makes you realize how precious life is," she said."I just feel lucky being safe and being able to help."

In Pascagoula, Schnapp was one of 31 Mass.
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Emily Schnapp of Holliston went to the Gulf Coast to aid those hurt by Hurricane Katrina. (Contributed photo)

HOLLISTON -- Emily Schnapp, a 27-year-old nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, knows firsthand just how destructive Mother Nature can be.

Already this year, she has traveled to care for the survivors of two devastating natural disasters: the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

In February, she flew in a helicopter above Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and saw the miles of destruction left behind after the tsunami receded Dec. 26, 2004.On a Navy ship, she treated survivors' broken bones and took care of sick, orphaned children.

She spent two months on a ship off Indonesia's coast as part of a relief effort organized by the group Project Hope.The work she and other nurses and doctors did earned her a trip to meet President Bush on the South Lawn of the White House.

In early September, she again was on an airplane bound for a region flattened by the ocean.She flew to Pensacola, Fla., and boarded the Navy ship USNS Comfort, which made its way to Pascagoula, Miss.

"It was very similar to the way the tsunami was, if not worse," Schnapp said Monday, four days after returning to Holliston.
...
In the Gulf Coast region, like in southeast Asia, Schnapp said, she will never forget "seeing people and families that have lost absolutely everything, family members and everything they loved."

Schnapp said she feels it's her responsibility as a nurse to make these trips."Through both of them it makes you realize how precious life is," she said."I just feel lucky being safe and being able to help."

In Pascagoula, Schnapp was one of 31 Mass.

Emily Schnapp of Holliston poses with two of her patients on the USNS Mercy, a Navy hospital ship that is helping tsunami victims off the coast of Banda Aceh, Indonesia.Schnapp, a Massachusetts General Hospital nurse, is volunteering for the relief effort.
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One of those nurses is Emily Schnapp, 27, a Massachusetts General Hospital employee, who lives in Holliston.

"I've always wanted to do something like this," Schnapp said in a phone interview from the ship on Thursday."When it happened, I was seeing all the pictures...(and wondered) if there was a way to help."

After an orientation on a ship in Baltimore, Schnapp flew to Singapore on Jan. 26, where she boarded the Mercy.The trip from there to the tip of Indonesia took two days."Nobody really knew what we'd be doing or experiencing," she said.

Schnapp's group is from Project Hope, a nonprofit founded in 1958 that used to have a peacetime hospital ship called the SS Hope.
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Schnapp spends most of her days onboard the ship treating patients."Doctors go out and decide which patients to go back to the ship," she said.
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"The main doctor lost his wife and all of his children and went in to work the next day after the tsunami," Schnapp said.

More than the sadness and pain, Schnapp said she's been struck by the smiles and the spirit of hope.

"The kids are the most amazing," she said.
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Patients become friends, play guitar and sing Indonesian songs, Schnapp said.One teenage boy, whose uncle was a patient, always wanted his picture taken, and wore Schnapp's sunglasses, she said.He gave her a note that said, "To Emily, Just for you," and included his address.

When she gets home in mid-March, she said she'll remember the smiles the most.