As the floodwaters from Hurricane Helene that ravaged portions of east Tennessee and western North Carolina over the weekend began to recede, stories of kindness and bravery emerged, including several involving the Tennessee Tech University community.

At the Unicoi County Community Hospital in Erwin, Tenn., Tech alumnus Dr. Sean Ochsenbein and his colleagues carried patients on their backs up to the roof of the hospital when the building suddenly became engulfed by rising waters.

Tennessee National Guard and Virginia State Police personnel then airlifted some 70 patients and staff to safety. Ochsenbein was the last to board the awaiting helicopters – making sure that his patients and fellow doctors were aided first.

Speaking to NBC News correspondent Priscilla Thompson, Ochsenbein recalled the harrowing scene, saying “There were literally flowing rapids, probably six inches to a foot high, flowing within the building. Every team member, even with that, were pushing those gurneys to get them out through the doors.”

For Ochsenbein, a 2011 Tech graduate and former student body president who now serves as chief medical officer for a network of eastern Tennessee hospitals, it is not the first time he has risked his own safety in service to others. In 2018, he was awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor at a White House ceremony for rescuing a man trapped inside a burning vehicle near Johnson City, Tenn.

Further east over the weekend, Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson, his players and coaching staff witnessed Hurricane Helene’s devastation firsthand as they traveled to the football team’s Sept. 28 game at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.

Six of the football team’s trainers, including two full time staff, two students and two graduate assistants, spent nearly 48 hours trapped in Black Mountain, near Asheville, and slept in their van one night. When Mark and his wife, Melanie, heard of the trainers’ predicament, they left the football game early to reach them, traveling through dangerous conditions to bring aid – even clearing downed trees along their otherwise impassable route.

While the Wilsons were en route to the trainers’ location, Tech Head Cross Country and Track Coach Peter Dalton called his friend, Jose Larios, vice president for enrollment management at Montreat College near where the students were stranded, and made arrangements for them to take shelter at the college until help could arrive. With the Wilsons’ assistance, each of the trainers are now back in Cookeville. 

Reflecting on the weekend, the Wilsons called the storm’s devastation “heartbreaking” and bristled at any suggestion of heroism on their part.

“It’s the Tennessee Tech way,” said Mark. “It’s what any of us would do for someone else.”

In that spirit, Tech’s Rural Reimagined Grand Challenge – a university initiative to provide economic supports to the state’s rural, distressed and at-risk counties – is already on the ground in Cocke County assisting plans to rebuild the community’s tourism apparatuses. Rural Reimagined has also committed to supporting similar efforts in other hard-hit communities nearby and is looking at strategies to support small businesses in the region devastated by the storm’s floodwaters.

Tech’s Athletics Department is additionally joining forces with Cookeville Communications to hold a relief drive at the university’s Oct. 5 home football game against Caroline State University. Donations will be accepted from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at a designated station along Stadium Drive. Donors will receive a coupon for two free tickets for a Tech home football game.

Items needed include flashlights, batteries, trash bags, gloves, toiletries, rubbing alcohol, bandages, wet wipes, charcoal and unopened/unexpired Tylenol, Ibuprofen or similar medications. Cash donations will also be accepted.