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The New Year's Day truck attack on Bourbon Street shook New Orleans. Drew Hawkins of Gulf States Newsroom reports on efforts to help the community recover.
DREW HAWKINS, BYLINE: Tyler Burt is a pedicab driver in the French Quarter. He had just dropped off his last ride on Bourbon Street, a family celebrating New Year's Eve, and was ready to call it a night.
TYLER BURT: My passengers got out, and my transaction was at 3:16. And that's exactly when the car came around the police vehicle, and they ran over her parents and another family member.
HAWKINS: They did survive, but the attacker would go on to kill 14 and injure dozens more. I met up with Burt in the French Quarter. He says the truck could have easily hit him, too.
BURT: I had actually been high-fiving the father. And then I believe that he was run over while I was, like, in contact with him. I think I had, like, reached for him, even.
HAWKINS: As the truck sped down Bourbon Street, Burt turned and saw bodies flying in the air. He says, since the attack, he's been struggling to manage how he's feeling inside. But he's been able to find support from the community, from friends and family.
BURT: Some of my thoughts have gone to really dark places here and there, but there's people that aren't letting me be alone right now, even though I might want to be, and that's been really helpful.
HAWKINS: Burt's passengers, like many others who were injured in the attack, were taken to University Medical Center. That's also where the families of victims and other survivors went to look for their loved ones.
ERIKA RAJO: There were just so many people.
HAWKINS: Dr. Erika Rajo is the director of the trauma center at the hospital. She met with the families, offering them support - sometimes small things, like water, tissues or a blanket - while they waited to find out more information. She says the attack impacted everyone - those who were there and the community, including herself. Rajo was born and raised in New Orleans.
RAJO: (Crying) It just was so sad to me 'cause I love things like Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest and all of these, like, big, crowded events. And now to have this looming thing - it just feels really sad.
HAWKINS: Rajo says it's critically important to make sure that everyone impacted is connected to resources and support, like the counseling services and financial assistance being offered in the wake of the attack.
RAJO: You know, after a trauma happens, life doesn't stop. And, like, bills and rent and just the practical things - those keep going. And then other, like, new stressors keep coming.
HAWKINS: Experts say people who experience trauma need this kind of help beyond a few weeks. It can be months, even years, after mass-casualty events like this for things to work out.
ROBIN GURWITCH: And that support can come from so many different places.
HAWKINS: Dr. Robin Gurwitch is a professor and psychologist at Duke University Medical Center who studies disaster and mass violence.
GURWITCH: It can come from trusted friends and family members. It can come from community resources. There's not a single one point where we get that support, but it is absolutely critical that we do.
HAWKINS: Because many of those affected were visitors to New Orleans, Rajo and her team at the University Medical Center are also connecting them with support organizations back home. She says, for everyone, this recovery will take time.
For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans.
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