Juan Gershanik

Juan Gershanik is identified in the account of Memorial’s evacuation as the doctor who carried a premature infant against his body and ventilated him by hand in a rescue helicopter. The child, known as Baby Boy S, survived and thrived, making Gershanik’s urgent physical care one of the crisis’s enduring stories of rescue and its aftermath.

Identity and Role

Gershanik appears as a physician involved in the evacuation of Memorial during Hurricane Katrina. The account gives little biographical detail, instead defining his role through a specific act of care: he held a premature newborn close and supplied ventilation manually during the helicopter journey.

Rescue in the Helicopter

The infant’s need for support made the evacuation more than a transfer from danger to safety. Gershanik kept him against his body while continuing to ventilate him by hand, providing care through the rescue itself. The account later associates this effort with Gershanik’s nickname, “the Argentinian Kangaroo,” which evokes the baby carried close against him.

Survival and Return

Over the year after the storm, Baby Boy S thrived at his new home in Houston. On the first anniversary of the hurricane, his mother brought him back to New Orleans to reunite with the doctors and staff who had saved him. That return became the beginning of a yearly tradition, extending the rescue beyond the helicopter journey: the infant’s survival was followed by a recurring connection between the child, his family, and the people who had cared for him.