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Kae Bruch, a Botetourt County school nurse, spent her Christmas holiday in St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana, caring for Hurricane Katrina victims.

The most positive part of the eight-day deployment was immunizing students who were finally returning to school, said Bruch, who worked as many as 13 hours a day during her holiday break.

Bruch is "Nurse Kae" to the 380 students at Cloverdale Elementary School in southern Botetourt County, and on any given day, she's busy. But she sees only a dozen or so children and some adults a day in her clinic, Principal David Marcum said.

In the seven-room clinic -- actually a triple-wide trailer -- on the parking lot of a hurricane-damaged Wal-Mart, Bruch and three other nurses treated nearly 200 patients a day in December. They gave flu shots and vaccinations, updated medicines and treated numerous illnesses and injuries.

On Christmas Day, Bruch toured the devastated area in St. Bernard, just east of New Orleans. She met quite a few people who "had some very interesting stories," she said.

"I was surprised the media hadn't covered St. Bernard Parish more," she said recently. She took pictures of the destruction and has posted them on her Web site, members.cox.net/bruch/index.htm.

The area, "much like Botetourt County, is a blend of all socioeconomic levels," she said. "Hurricane Katrina did not discriminate against any of the socioeconomic classes -- she affected them all.

"Many of the people in the community of St. Bernard lost their homes, jobs and insurance -- and in some cases family, friends and neighbors. The community went from average American neighborhoods to Third World overnight."

Bruch was a volunteer emergency medical technician with the Read Mountain Fire and Rescue Department when she decided to become a nurse. She graduated from nursing school at Virginia Western Community College and began working with students at Cloverdale 11 years ago.

Not long after Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, Bruch signed up for medical relief duty with the U.S. Department of Public Health's Medical Reserve Corps. She had to refuse two earlier assignments because they interfered with her school nurse work.

Coincidentally, she received a request to go to Louisiana on Dec. 21, the same day school recessed for the Christmas vacation. Less than 24 hours later, Bruch was setting up temporary quarters on an overnight ferry in St. Bernard Parish.

She became part of a skeleton crew of doctors and nurses who treated patients ranging from 4 months to 92 years old.

Bruch comes from a household of volunteers, and her family encouraged her to take the assignment, saying they would complete Christmas preparations.

Her husband, Bob, who works for Norfolk Southern Railway, and oldest son Ryan, a college freshman, are volunteer firefighter/EMTs. Her youngest son, Jacob, a high school junior, volunteers through their church, First Christian Church in Salem.

Bruch said she had put up her Christmas tree but her family had to wrap gifts after she left. They had a private celebration when she returned Dec. 30.

Although she wasn't with her family on Christmas, Bruch said, she "appreciated the opportunity to make their holidays a little better down there."

"I learned that it really is a blessing to give. Each day at the end of my 12- or 13-hour shift I was exhausted -- but never until after the last patient was seen. And then it was a good exhaustion because we all knew we'd helped make a difference."

Marcum, the Cloverdale principal, said Bruch's work in Louisiana is typical of her.

"She has gone out of her way to try and take care of our kids. She cares for all these kids like you would your own," he said.

"I think she felt this was a very important part of her life as well as for the victims."

Bruch said she's willing to take another deployment, but only if it's while she's out of school from her permanent position.