Update from New Orleans Airport
11/06/2005 16:57
The Following was provided by Liz Rantz of Missoula
Medical Aid on
11/6/05:
Last Update - from the New Orleans Airport
Sitting in a ghost airport. about 15 flights a day out, all the restaurants are closed, one bookseller open. Fascinating conversation with a fellow whose father was in Tenet hospital when the floods came, he was one of the lucky ones to get out. And about the numbers of older folks who have died since the hurricane, evacuated to nowhere, lose the drive to go on. Won't be counted as a hurricane death.......
Spent the last three days in the Common Ground Algiers free clinic. Whole new perspective on this disaster. 80-100 patients a day. Most with minor problems, and needing prescriptions for drugs they have run out of. If I write "shelter eligible" on the script FEMA will fill for nothing. Medicaid and Medicare are providing some, if you didn't lose your card in the flood. Most clients lost insurance coverage when they lost their pre-hurricane job. The clinic has a desperate need for physicians to volunteer. Current estimates are that 100,000 previous New Orleans residents will not return. But so typical of how the poor are treated. It takes several hours to be seen in the clinic, though they do excellent care, then try to get to the pharmacy when no public transportation, wait there. Takes a day out of a life that has a lot of other things to be tending to.
Algiers was not affected too badly because it is on the west side of the river, though still part of New Orleans. But now it is severely affected because there are no services. The charity hospital is closed, and probably won't reopen. There are many jobs going begging because there is no transportation to get to them. I heard about one restaurant that used to hire 50, is about to open with 4 staff. Stores are closed in the immediate area, and even though there are stores and merchandise five miles away there is no way to get there. And this is an elderly, sickly population. And it has turned hot and very humid again.
There is a tremendous need for workers in Louisiana. If I were a young, underemployed person I think I'd take my tent, move into one of the camps, eat at the free Food not Bombs restaurant, and work a bunch of 12 hours days for a few months, salt away a few dollars. Drink a few beers in the French Quarter which is struggling to get running again.
However, there are a lot of bright spots, mostly people helping people. The clinic has medical students from all over the country who are using their vacation time to come help (and I hope learn a lot since I am their preceptor!) Nurses, social workers, volunteers cooking food for the medical volunteers. All paying their own way, as have all the Missoula Medical Aid volunteers.
About 40% of New Orleans parish still has no electricity, there are no schools open, but the infrastructure is improving. The curious thing to me is no one seems to be prioritizing the needs. A lot of little things would make a tremendous difference. For example there is a major turn in the road that I have to take to get to the clinic, off an expressway. The sign is missing. Results in mass confusion every morning. Many of the street signs are twisted so you can't figure out what street you are on.
It is important when doing any "helping" that the amount of work done is not the goal, but the lives touched and changed. From that perspective this has been a wonderful experience. My understanding of myself and my work will be forever changed, how only time will tell. However, the overwhelming needs and chaos are still overwhelming me. And I never had the courage to go look at Mississippi, Gulfport, Biloxi, the places hit even worse than where I was. I'll be home for a few weeks before returning to the gulf after Thanksgiving. Will miss my little tent, but it is being used by someone else and I think my own bed will be nice. Several projects have grown from this trip, including a fundraiser for a school that flooded under 6 feet of water. More people are going to Louisiana in the next few weeks from Missoula Medical Aid.
11/6/05:
Last Update - from the New Orleans Airport
Sitting in a ghost airport. about 15 flights a day out, all the restaurants are closed, one bookseller open. Fascinating conversation with a fellow whose father was in Tenet hospital when the floods came, he was one of the lucky ones to get out. And about the numbers of older folks who have died since the hurricane, evacuated to nowhere, lose the drive to go on. Won't be counted as a hurricane death.......
Spent the last three days in the Common Ground Algiers free clinic. Whole new perspective on this disaster. 80-100 patients a day. Most with minor problems, and needing prescriptions for drugs they have run out of. If I write "shelter eligible" on the script FEMA will fill for nothing. Medicaid and Medicare are providing some, if you didn't lose your card in the flood. Most clients lost insurance coverage when they lost their pre-hurricane job. The clinic has a desperate need for physicians to volunteer. Current estimates are that 100,000 previous New Orleans residents will not return. But so typical of how the poor are treated. It takes several hours to be seen in the clinic, though they do excellent care, then try to get to the pharmacy when no public transportation, wait there. Takes a day out of a life that has a lot of other things to be tending to.
Algiers was not affected too badly because it is on the west side of the river, though still part of New Orleans. But now it is severely affected because there are no services. The charity hospital is closed, and probably won't reopen. There are many jobs going begging because there is no transportation to get to them. I heard about one restaurant that used to hire 50, is about to open with 4 staff. Stores are closed in the immediate area, and even though there are stores and merchandise five miles away there is no way to get there. And this is an elderly, sickly population. And it has turned hot and very humid again.
There is a tremendous need for workers in Louisiana. If I were a young, underemployed person I think I'd take my tent, move into one of the camps, eat at the free Food not Bombs restaurant, and work a bunch of 12 hours days for a few months, salt away a few dollars. Drink a few beers in the French Quarter which is struggling to get running again.
However, there are a lot of bright spots, mostly people helping people. The clinic has medical students from all over the country who are using their vacation time to come help (and I hope learn a lot since I am their preceptor!) Nurses, social workers, volunteers cooking food for the medical volunteers. All paying their own way, as have all the Missoula Medical Aid volunteers.
About 40% of New Orleans parish still has no electricity, there are no schools open, but the infrastructure is improving. The curious thing to me is no one seems to be prioritizing the needs. A lot of little things would make a tremendous difference. For example there is a major turn in the road that I have to take to get to the clinic, off an expressway. The sign is missing. Results in mass confusion every morning. Many of the street signs are twisted so you can't figure out what street you are on.
It is important when doing any "helping" that the amount of work done is not the goal, but the lives touched and changed. From that perspective this has been a wonderful experience. My understanding of myself and my work will be forever changed, how only time will tell. However, the overwhelming needs and chaos are still overwhelming me. And I never had the courage to go look at Mississippi, Gulfport, Biloxi, the places hit even worse than where I was. I'll be home for a few weeks before returning to the gulf after Thanksgiving. Will miss my little tent, but it is being used by someone else and I think my own bed will be nice. Several projects have grown from this trip, including a fundraiser for a school that flooded under 6 feet of water. More people are going to Louisiana in the next few weeks from Missoula Medical Aid.