CATONSVILLE, MD (August 23, 2007) - Two years ago, Matilda Merricks was one of the lucky New Orleans residents who was able to leave town before Hurricane Katrina hit. Unfortunately, she still lost everything she owned.

"I left thinking I'd be gone for two or three days," Merricks remembers. "I took my birth certificate, some other important papers and clothes for a few days. That was it."

Everything else Merricks left behind was destroyed when the storm hit and the flooding began.

Merricks, who immigrated to the United States at 22 from Cameroon, attended the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex, Md., before transferring to Neuez Community College of Louisiana in 1994. After graduating as a licensed practical nurse, Merricks worked as a nurse in New Orleans until August 2005.

Over the years Merricks kept in touch with her friends in the Baltimore area, so when it came time to evacuate she knew she'd have a place to stay for a few days. As the days turned into weeks, and a return to her home was out of the question, she began interviewing for jobs and, through a contact at the Red Cross, found a position as a charge nurse at Renaissance Gardens, an assisted living and skilled nursing residence on the campus of Charlestown, a full-service retirement community in Catonsville, Md.

"Ten months after I got to Baltimore I was able to get my own apartment and furnish it," said Merricks. "It's good to be back on my own again."

Merricks has been able to keep in touch with friends and family members from New Orleans who were also displaced from the storm, most of whom ended up in Texas. And while she hopes to move back to New Orleans someday, she continues to make a name for herself in Baltimore - and at Charlestown.

"I can always count on Matilda. She's very reliable," said Carolyn Charity, quality care coordinator at Renaissance Gardens and Merricks' supervisor. "Residents and their families really respect her."