Lynn Meadows, Slidell, LA, November 25 Day 5, Friday
11/25/2005 17:38
United
Peace Relief
Slidell, LA
November 25 Day 5
Friday
Today we got up early and take off for New Orleans. I am scheduled to work as a PA in the Common Ground Clinic. I am taking my good friend Christina Cruz there to meet her new friend so they can do some disaster sight seeing before they fly out today. She is a bilingual social worker who came from San Francisco to volunteer at the clinic this week. We hit he ground running as the clinic is alive at 8 in the morning.
It turns out that today is the last day that FEMA is paying for prescriptions for people who are "shelter eligible". I worked in the Clinic all day. There was a wonderful woman Doctor helping us for a couple of hours in the morning, but I was on my own as the only person who could prescribe, for most of the day. Luckily we had some Medical Students who could evaluate the patients for me because we saw around 70 people. Almost everyone needed refills on their chronic medications for diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and some psyche disorders. We worked hard and fast to get everyone their prescriptions before the pharmacies closed. Most of these people have no money and no insurance.
I talked with a middle class woman who lost everything to the flood. Her home insurance is Allstate and they sent her a check for $375. That was all for a house which is ruined. She is worse off because she paid cash for her house and doesn't have a mortgage to walk away from. Her husband has a laminating business, which is going under because there are no customers. She is living at her in-laws sleeping three to a bed. Needless to say she was stressed and unable to sleep.
Story after story of people who have lost everything, including their doctors. They have no idea how they are going to get their medications after FEMA stops paying. Even if a person is able to produce the documentation, find a place to apply for medicaid and receive mail, all rare, medicaid does not pay for medication!
The Common Ground Clinic is an incredible place, full of volunteers working tirelessly. It is a bit chaotic with people coming and going in every direction. Their goal is to find a permanent location and move there by January 31. This community needs access to health care.
I left at 6 pm and headed for Slidell a 45 minute drive across Lake Ponchartrain. It is Bob's last night and I wanted to take him out to a romantic dinner. What a surprise when I got home to camp and they had moved into the kitchen! It was warm and cozy with joy oozing out of the newly resurrected cabin walls. Hot water to the kitchen sink, and they got the flooded gas stove going! They bought deep cycle batteries so now we have power for lights. Save Our Selves (SOS) delivered our promised generator, everything is coming together.
Niki, Ken, Mike, Carol, Deborah, Shannon and Bob were sitting the around the table waiting for me, ready to cork a bottle of wine. It was a grand reception and no restaurant could ever feel so cozy, so we toasted to the wonder of it all and stayed together in our humble abode.
Our friends had slaved for 2 weeks to make this happen. When we first looked at the land in Slidell, some people said it was hopeless. All five structures flooded, full of mud, mold, trashed contents and stinky. Niki, Carol, Mike and Ken spent days wearing protective suits, hauling the disgusting contents out to a big trash pile. Then they scraped out the mud. The fun part is when they got to tear out the sheet rock and haul it out. Then comes the power wash, then the bleaching two times.
We showed up after that phase was completed. Now look what we have. A place for volunteers to come and sleep, take hot showers, and be fed nutritious meals. One of the best parts of being here to give service, is the people you meet, and the friends you make. Everyone with the same intention, to bring hope and love to our people in their time of need.
Kevin Curley is the owner of this land. He is a Dentist with a practice here and in New Orleans. He gave us this land for a year because we are here to help the needy in this area. He has a camp site here on the land and tonight he had a campfire going with a small gathering of friends and family. They invited us over for some good old southern hospitality. The next thing you know they pulled out their canoes and kayaks and we took off for a late night paddle on the bayou. It all started when we were making alligator jokes and I found out that Niki and Ken had been pulling my leg all along. They have not seen alligators here and there are none here now, thay are hybernating. No one has ever been hurt by an alligator in this area because they keep to themselves. So we took off for an alligator hunt!
It was the most lovely night on the water. Some light in the sky, but I could not see a moon. We made our way out of the narrow slip from the camp site to the open water of the bayou. There was a gentle current that carried us along. The beauty was astounding, at one point Deborah and I saw something slip from the surface of the water and disapear. Maybe it was a beaver or a nutria. We were kind of slow and got deserted by the others. Could we find our way back in the dark to our little slip? Suddenly Kevin popped out of the grass at the bank where he was waiting in hiding. He guided us back. Now we know why he told us this land was a beautiful little piece of Louisiana.
Slidell, LA
November 25 Day 5
Friday
Today we got up early and take off for New Orleans. I am scheduled to work as a PA in the Common Ground Clinic. I am taking my good friend Christina Cruz there to meet her new friend so they can do some disaster sight seeing before they fly out today. She is a bilingual social worker who came from San Francisco to volunteer at the clinic this week. We hit he ground running as the clinic is alive at 8 in the morning.
It turns out that today is the last day that FEMA is paying for prescriptions for people who are "shelter eligible". I worked in the Clinic all day. There was a wonderful woman Doctor helping us for a couple of hours in the morning, but I was on my own as the only person who could prescribe, for most of the day. Luckily we had some Medical Students who could evaluate the patients for me because we saw around 70 people. Almost everyone needed refills on their chronic medications for diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and some psyche disorders. We worked hard and fast to get everyone their prescriptions before the pharmacies closed. Most of these people have no money and no insurance.
I talked with a middle class woman who lost everything to the flood. Her home insurance is Allstate and they sent her a check for $375. That was all for a house which is ruined. She is worse off because she paid cash for her house and doesn't have a mortgage to walk away from. Her husband has a laminating business, which is going under because there are no customers. She is living at her in-laws sleeping three to a bed. Needless to say she was stressed and unable to sleep.
Story after story of people who have lost everything, including their doctors. They have no idea how they are going to get their medications after FEMA stops paying. Even if a person is able to produce the documentation, find a place to apply for medicaid and receive mail, all rare, medicaid does not pay for medication!
The Common Ground Clinic is an incredible place, full of volunteers working tirelessly. It is a bit chaotic with people coming and going in every direction. Their goal is to find a permanent location and move there by January 31. This community needs access to health care.
I left at 6 pm and headed for Slidell a 45 minute drive across Lake Ponchartrain. It is Bob's last night and I wanted to take him out to a romantic dinner. What a surprise when I got home to camp and they had moved into the kitchen! It was warm and cozy with joy oozing out of the newly resurrected cabin walls. Hot water to the kitchen sink, and they got the flooded gas stove going! They bought deep cycle batteries so now we have power for lights. Save Our Selves (SOS) delivered our promised generator, everything is coming together.
Niki, Ken, Mike, Carol, Deborah, Shannon and Bob were sitting the around the table waiting for me, ready to cork a bottle of wine. It was a grand reception and no restaurant could ever feel so cozy, so we toasted to the wonder of it all and stayed together in our humble abode.
Our friends had slaved for 2 weeks to make this happen. When we first looked at the land in Slidell, some people said it was hopeless. All five structures flooded, full of mud, mold, trashed contents and stinky. Niki, Carol, Mike and Ken spent days wearing protective suits, hauling the disgusting contents out to a big trash pile. Then they scraped out the mud. The fun part is when they got to tear out the sheet rock and haul it out. Then comes the power wash, then the bleaching two times.
We showed up after that phase was completed. Now look what we have. A place for volunteers to come and sleep, take hot showers, and be fed nutritious meals. One of the best parts of being here to give service, is the people you meet, and the friends you make. Everyone with the same intention, to bring hope and love to our people in their time of need.
Kevin Curley is the owner of this land. He is a Dentist with a practice here and in New Orleans. He gave us this land for a year because we are here to help the needy in this area. He has a camp site here on the land and tonight he had a campfire going with a small gathering of friends and family. They invited us over for some good old southern hospitality. The next thing you know they pulled out their canoes and kayaks and we took off for a late night paddle on the bayou. It all started when we were making alligator jokes and I found out that Niki and Ken had been pulling my leg all along. They have not seen alligators here and there are none here now, thay are hybernating. No one has ever been hurt by an alligator in this area because they keep to themselves. So we took off for an alligator hunt!
It was the most lovely night on the water. Some light in the sky, but I could not see a moon. We made our way out of the narrow slip from the camp site to the open water of the bayou. There was a gentle current that carried us along. The beauty was astounding, at one point Deborah and I saw something slip from the surface of the water and disapear. Maybe it was a beaver or a nutria. We were kind of slow and got deserted by the others. Could we find our way back in the dark to our little slip? Suddenly Kevin popped out of the grass at the bank where he was waiting in hiding. He guided us back. Now we know why he told us this land was a beautiful little piece of Louisiana.