Soon after Hurricane Katrina, board members of ExceptionalNurse.com began asking questions about nurses with disabilities:

How were they impacted? Did they evacuate? Did they receive the help they needed?

Emails and telephone conversations soon confirmed our suspicions.

The bad news was that many nurses suffered a great deal during and after the storm and continue to be in need of assistance with medical bills, equipment, medication expenses, housing and housing repairs.

The lives of our colleagues had been devastated once by disability and again by Katrina.

The good news is that ExceptionalNurse.com found a way to help, and so can you.

The Disability Funders Network, a bridge between the disability community and organized philanthropy came to the rescue and awarded ExceptionalNurse.com a grant of $5,000 to respond to this need.

In addition, ExceptionalNurse.com raised donations of $500 from nurses across the United States. Contributions are still needed so we can do an even better job of helping our colleagues who have given so much to our profession.

The Louisiana and Mississippi State Nurses Associations and nursing publications published information about the grant availability. Initially, the response was slow. Then, the calls and emails began to come in night and day, and haven't stopped.

Here are brief summaries of the plight of some of the nurses who received financial assistance of $250-$500. The recipients used the funds for food, medications, routine living expenses and house repairs. Names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Andrea is an RN from Mississippi. She has fibromyalgia and has been unable to work as a nurse for quite some time. She was displaced by Katrina and has family members living with her who lost their homes and awaiting FEMA trailers.

Winifred is an RN from Louisiana. She is an operating room nurse who served in the Army during the Gulf War. Following her return to the states, she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Katrina turned her life up side down. She was evacuated to Baton Rouge. When her home in New Orleans was cleared for return, she opted to return because life in the shelter was so difficult. Later, she was hospitalized with major depression and psychotic episodes. Finding nursing work has been difficult. Winifred lives with her two children, her sister's child, who she is raising, and her mother.

Stephanie worked as an LPN in the emergency department. She was in a car accident that resulted in a back injury and four subsequent surgeries.

When Katrina hit, she had just come home from having surgery and was unable to evacuate.  Following Katrina, FEMA told her she had to get out of her house. Her husband is out of work and they have no health insurance.

Deidre is a 55-year-old RN from the Mississippi gulf coast. She has ankylosing spondylitis and experienced a debilitating flare up which began within a few days after Katrina.

Mike was a hospice nurse in both Mississippi and Louisiana and is disabled due to orthopedic problems and HIV. He and his partner are raising his partner's two nephews. Their home was devastated.

Jill is an RN in Mississippi who has worked in public health and geriatrics. She has connective tissue disease and had knee surgery before Katrina. She hasn't been able to work since. Jill is a single mother of two children. Her husband passed away.

Debbie is an RN who suffered a stroke and just learned that she has multiple sclerosis. She is living in a FEMA camper.

Nancy is a 49-year-old RN of 30 years. She has rheumatoid arthritis and her husband is terminally ill. She can't physically work fulltime any longer. Her roof was damaged from Katrina. The insurance company settlement was $53, which the insurance company would not release because they were behind a house payment. Their den leaks every time it rains; this is where her husband's bed is located.

Penny is an RN in Mississippi. She has been HIV-positive for 15 years. She works part-time and has a child who is HIV-positive. Katrina caused $20,000 worth of damage to her home. She was "taken" by a contractor who was supposed to make repairs.

Susan has been an RN in Mississippi for 30 years. She suffers from fibromyalgia and had a heart attack following Katrina.

Mindy is an RN from Mississippi. She has worked for many years as a charge nurse, and a med/surg, geriatric, home care and community health nurse. She was injured 2.5 years ago and is paraplegic.

Peggy is an RN who has worked in the ED and in education and home health. She fell and ruptured three discs in her back, developed an infection, and then had an adverse reaction to the antibiotics. Subsequently, she had three strokes and developed epilepsy.

These nurses and countless others feel abandoned and forgotten. They are in need of emotional support, mental health counseling and financial assistance.

Many are "Hurricane Evacuee Refugees."

To donate to the Disabled Nurses Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, mail checks to ExceptionalNurse.com, 13019 Coastal Circle, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410.

Donna Carol Maheady is an adjunct assistant professor in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University. She is the founder of www.ExceptionalNurse.com and author of Nursing Students with Disabilities, Change the Course, and Leave No Nurse Behind: Nurses Working with disAbilities.