Rediscovering community--reflections after Hurricane Sandy

Hoboken, New Jersey, is a town of 50,000 residents located across the Hudson River from New York City. Most of Hoboken's infrastructure was compromised during Hurricane Sandy as a result of flooding and power outages that rendered many businesses inoperable, including all of the pharmacies in town. Despite a focus on emergency preparedness since Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, there were no contingencies in place to facilitate and assess the medication needs of the community in the event of a natural disaster. This essay describes how the author rediscovered the meaning of community, and through working with colleagues in other health care disciplines and non-health care volunteers, provided care to patients in suboptimal circumstances.