On Monday, August 29, Hurricane Katrina, a storm of biblical proportions, hit the Gulf Coast with a vengeance. While New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi, and other cities addressed the storm's devastation, witnessed its toll on life and property, and were consumed with rescue and recovery efforts, the residents and staff of Biloxi Community Living Center (BCLC), a 240-bed skilled nursing facility in Mississippi, weathered Katrina and its aftermath in relative comfort and safety.

"In September 2004, we evacuated our residents who lived in the path of Hurricane Ivan," says Rachel Duncan, vice-president of community relations of Community Eldercare Services (CES) in Tupelo, Mississippi. From that difficult but educational experience, CES realized the importance of having a special-needs shelter available to the elderly in emergencies. "We worked closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] and its Mississippi counterpart, MEMA, to meet all the standards necessary to receive designation as a certified shelter," says Duncan.

As part of the certification process, BCLC signed an agreement with FEMA to install a 50kW emergency generator financed by FEMA loans and some out-of-pocket cash. "Only a few companies manufacture this generator, but once we achieved our special-needs shelter certification, we were bumped to the top of the waiting list," explains Duncan.