Ambulatory patients from Charity finally being evacuated into a semi
Air boats taking patients out of Memorial Hospital
Charity was full of critically patients, aids patients, TB patients and a psych wing full of the most violent psychiatric patients
Nurses bagged patients by hand for days.
I cant begin to do justice to the situation at these two hospitals. There was no money for evacuations in the days before Katrina. Dedicated hospital staff stayed with their patients, made life and death decisions (and then later officials attempted to charge some of them with homicide, whether or not death cocktails were given has not been determined, but I suspect there were)
The morgue's flooded. Snakes and other wildlife took refuge in the hospital, dogs and cats too.
Generators quit, there were no meds left not even sub-q fluids. People were turned away (there was no way to treat them) Shots were reported fired at Guard soldiers helping with evacuation but never really confirmed. (the docs and nurses said there were and frankly I am inclined to believe them)
Imagine being a critical patient being stuck in one of these hell holes and the world has forgotten about you. You have just had an open heart surgery and you are faced with this.
5 comments:
I can't imagine what it would be like.
How long were they stranded?
I believe it was 5 to 6 days before Charity was completely evacuated.
Memorial's evacs started, then halted, then started then halted. Tech I think they started on day 2 but it turned into a nightmare. Glenn google Memorial after Katrina if you get a chance. You wont believe what you see.
Christina, this has to be hard for you to talk about, but we all need the reminders--of the good as well as the bad. How much more horrendous it all would have been without those volunteers.
I cant even imagine Juli. Sometimes I feel guilty, like I laid claim to a tragedy that I wasnt involved in. You surely know Tilmon (the guy I am always battling with on FB?) He evacuated during Katrina and didnt move back to the city. He was lucky....he was white, had a car and a place to go. I love him dearly but I dont think he was as touched by this as I was/am. I bleed for New Orleans and for my brother who would have been HORRIFIED if he was alive when it happened. There are so many stories...I can even lightly touch on them. It scares me to think how easily the US forgot about this, how we werent outraged by it and how it could happen again tomorrow. How the city he betrayed re-elected Nagin. (who hid in his hotel the entire time and just sounded good on the radio) How almost every idiot government official and agency (I say almost, I will talk a bit about the ones who did it right) failed to act in a timely and passionate manner. I know I am a little obsessed at the moment. I want so badly for people to remember for every man, woman, baby and animal that died. I constantly ask myself....what if that had been Chicago? San Francisco? Boston? DC?
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