As Katrina rushed toward New Orleans, Dr. Dennis Occhipinti drove to Destin with an overnight bag and a change of clothes. "I figured we'd be back in New Orleans in a couple of days," he says.
After the levee broke and the city flooded, leaving Occhipinti, like so many others, stranded, he was fortunate enough to hear from an old friend and classmate, Dr. Bill Cornay, here in Birmingham. "He and his wife Elizabeth invited us here," Occhipinti says. "They put us up in their home. Bill and his partner, Dr. Marc Routman, have let me practice with them, part time. They've all been really generous."
Dr. Occhipinti, an ENT specialist, reactivated his inactive Alabama license, which he obtained 27 years ago when he did a surgery residency at Carraway. He still jokes about his first week at the hospital then, recalling the time the switchboard operator announced over the loudspeaker that there was a "call for Dr. Penny. Dr. Archie Penny." After this was repeated several times, Occhipinti approached the operator, asking if the calls were possibly for him. "You mean that's all one name?" she asked.
He enjoyed his residency here and he still finds Birmingham to be warm and hospitable today, although he'd obviously like to be here under different circumstances. "It's a big adjustment," he says. "My roots are so deep in New Orleans. My three sisters, my brother and I all live within six blocks of each other, just five minutes from the house where we grew up. But after the hurricane, we wound up in five different states." Occhipinti's four grown children have also scattered, while his youngest son is here, attending Mountain Brook High School.
Occhipinti has been back to New Orleans several times since Katrina. "It's mind boggling," he says. "You can't capture it on TV. It's like trying to get someone to understand what the Grand Canyon's like from a picture. You just can't imagine. In neighborhoods, you go for miles, the curbs packed with everything: kitchen cabinets, sofas and chairs, sheet-rock, and carpet. FEMA trucks and bulldozers will spend half a day on one street, bulldozing all that junk into dump trucks. They'll cart it off and a few days later, the sidewalks are full again."
"My office was in New Orleans East, up in the fourth floor of a pretty substantial building. So it's untouched, it's pristine. But no one's there. It's like something out of a science fiction movie, an empty city. No cars moving, not a human being, not a dog or a cat. Nobody."
Dr. Occhipinti is uncertain as to when he or his scattered family members will return to New Orleans. "We'll just take it on a month to month basis."
In the meantime, he appreciates the opportunity to work with Drs. Cornay and Routman. "After weeks of not seeing patients, I missed it. I missed what I went through all that training for, what my vocation is. I missed it a lot. It feels good to be productive again. It's good to have a chance to practice my craft and help people out when they're feeling sick."
