As Hurricane Ida pounded the coast of New Orleans with downpours and 150-mile-per-hour winds on the afternoon of Aug. 29, New Orleans Emergency Medical Services had to reverse course after spending 18 months running around the city at full speed battling COVID-19: staying put. For 13 hours and 41 minutes, as the storm’s worst shook their community, the workers hunkered down at their base, keeping themselves safe to be ready to protect others from whatever came next. However, the deluge of 9-1-1 calls didn’t come to a halt as EMS waited out the storm. So, after EMS workers were given the go-ahead to rush back into the city streets, they worked through the massive queue that developed, putting in 12-hour-shift after 12-hour -shift to keep up with the volume of calls. Within th…