As the sun rose on Monday, August 30, 2021, tens of thousands of our region’s 200,000 residents were homeless, water and power supplies were cut, and mangled debris was all that remained of many families’ homes and businesses. The pain and loss were tremendous.

New Orleans garnered national attention, but the depth of destruction here at home was far worse. Ida was our storm, and our people were hurting.

​Hurricane Ida really dealt a serious and costly blow to our community. And in the aftermath, we quickly came to realize that our salvation wasn’t anyone else’s responsibility. So many people stepped up and responded to the needs of others.

They went out and obtained supplies. They made contact with the powers that be to help us provide for the basic needs of the community. Fire stations and churches served as a connect points for food distribution, and for the distribution of water, ice and cleaning supplies. Volunteer firefighters, law enforcement officers, and church members spent countless hours and many sleepless nights tending to the needs of the community. Fire stations and houses of worship even housed soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard.

Two years later, the memories still haunt many of us. But two years later, the extent of our gratitude only grows for the local heroes from our communities who really ‘showed up and showed out’ when they were called upon prior to — and in the aftermath of — Hurricane Ida.
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In the wake of Hurricane Ida, those days were our finest hour. Many of us did some of our best work, and so many people served and so many people deserve credit for their selfless acts, for their random acts of kindness in the wake of the storm.

The real story of Hurricane Ida was not the images that we saw on Facebook and on television. The real legacy is people just helped peal away all that isolates us from each other, and that allowed for human to human connections.

Today we remember Sergeant Martha Woods-Shareef.

Sergeant Woods-Shareef succumbed to injuries sustained when she was run over by a stolen vehicle while responding to an alarm at a convenience store in Chackbay.

She had responded to a local convenience store at 2:30 am after an alarm was activated at the store. Dispatchers heard a scream over her radio, and then moments later a store employee used the radio to inform dispatchers that she had been injured and needed an ambulance. She was transported to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, where she succumbed to her injuries. The suspect was arrested approximately four hours later hiding underneath a house.
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Sergeant Woods-Shareef had served with the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office for 15 years. She was survived by her husband and daughter.

Former President Harry S. Truman once said that ‘America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand’.

Each and every day, that courage, imagination and unbeatable determination lives on in those who keep the American dream alive.

Wishing all of you a safe and happy Independence Day.

This weekend, we honor those who served our country but whom we never could thank with a handshake, applause or a ticker-tape parade -- because we never had the chance.

They are the people who fought and gave their lives for America and our allies. In most cases, they never knew the outcome of their ultimate sacrifice -- whether it was on a beach in Normandy, a Middle Eastern desert, a jungle in Asia, or a field in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Each year -- on Memorial Day -- Americans pause to remember the fallen and honor their sacrifice. We at the Choctaw Volunteer Fire Department pause to remember the sacrifices of the men and women of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard -- those who never made it home to their loved ones.

'As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them'.
​   --- John F. Kennedy, 1963

EMS Week is a time to celebrate the health professionals on the frontlines who save lives every day — teams of dedicated first responders that do everything they can for patients and their families and communities — overcoming challenges and individual risks and putting patients first to provide exceptional care to anyone who experiences a medical emergency.

​The sacrifice and dedication of EMTs, paramedics and other EMS practitioners has rightfully earned them admiration and gratitude in their communities.

Calling them heroes sometimes obscures the fact that -- behind those masks -- are people who, every day, take on many crucial roles: Healthcare professional. Emergency manager. Social worker. Crisis counselor. Consoler. Caregiver.

This year, for National EMS Week, we honor the places where emergency care begins — the rural communities, the volunteer fire departments and their dedicated professionals who risk it all every day to be the lifeblood of their communities.

​We recognize the need to share their story with the rest of the world, to make sure people understand that EMS isn’t defined by lights and sirens or ambulance rides. The full portrait of what EMS does and who they are is much more complex, diverse and nuanced.

It’s the firefighter who makes sure someone will feed an elderly patient’s cat when she’s at the hospital.

It’s the emergency medical responder who holds a child’s hand on the scene of a vehicle crash to make sure he isn’t scared.
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It’s the volunteers that spend an hour fighting for a cardiac arrest victim’s life at the end of long night.

It’s the emergency medical professionals who care for our communities, day in and day out.

They are EMS.

To all the firefighters around the world - THANK YOU!

On International FireFighters' Day (St Florian’s Day), we celebrate all firefighters for their service.

We recognize those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, falling in the line of duty. We remember and honor those who have since left the service after giving their all, and we remember and honor those who have passed before us.

To all firefighters, and to those that support them, across the world:

Thank you for your dedication, your commitment, your courage and your sacrifice.

Thank you for protecting our lives and our communities.

Thank you for being there for us every hour of the day, and every day of the year.
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Thank you for risking your lives.