Texas Nurse and Mom Stays Behind to Help Neighbors: I Had to ‘Make Sure They Were Still Alive’

By Jason Duaine Hahn / PEOPLE

In a matter of days, many of Emily Grigsby’s neighbors have become her patients.

 

The 39-year-old nurse has been tending to the elderly residents in her Austin neighborhood over the last week when freezing temperatures caused by Winter Storm Uri hit Texas. As millions of Texans have endured rolling power outages amid the icy storm — which, in many cases, cut off their access to heat — they have also had to deal with water shortages, leaving them without ways to drink or wash themselves amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Early Thursday afternoon, Grigsby had to travel through the 32-degree weather to reach an elderly neighbor who was burned after she melted snow to refill her toilet.

 

“We’re now melting snow on the stove to flush out toilets with, and she accidentally poured the pot of boiling water on her leg,” Grigsby — a mother of two boys, age 9 and 12. “It’s getting kind of crazy around here.”

 

Bonus Texas Peace Story & Video:

The devastation from the recent winter storms across our Country, and in particular Texas, is so profound that at this moment we can’t fully comprehend the suffering or fear people are experiencing or how long it will take to get back to some sense of normal.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

KHOU-11:  Resource List for Texas Aide – HERE

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