2005 - 09-05-04

# 2005 - 09-05-04

From:

North of Jewfish Creek

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

The email below is from a reader of my
website.

I don't know what's happened since it was
originally written... but since part of it was written by
someone right there in New Orleans
before, during and after Hurricane Katrina hit...
I think it's important to put it on my site.

If you haven't already made some type of
humanitarian contribution... whether money, food, water,
your time, whatever... it is not too late to do so.
Hurricane Katrina's fury will take months and months, and in
some instances, years to clean up.

Hii
Mr. Halbert....

I know you do not know me... but I've been
reading and following you for some time.

Anyway.... a little while ago, I got an email
from my dad from a doctor who is stuck in New
Orleans at the Hyatt on Canal Street. He was
there to attend a medical

conference. He is a pathologist... and
apparently my dad's friends checked him out thru
a person they know, and I checked him out on
google.com. He seems to be the real thing. I'm
going to copy & paste the email for you ---
you'll note at the VERY end of the email, he
says that they need SUTURE PACKS, STERILE GLOVES
& STETHOSCOPES as they turn the Ritz into a
MASH. It surely seems like that isn't asking
for much, and that it's really needed. Maybe
you know someone who has access to these types
of things - or even know a pharmaceutical
"guru"? I learned many years ago that one
doesn't get what one doesn't ask for --- so just
thought I'd throw the idea out to you. AND, we
would know that at least some of the help we
provide is truly getting to those who need it.
The doctor also provides his email address at
the end - but it's uncertain whether he will be
able to retrieve the message -- he did get THIS
message out, however, and expects to send more.
His original message is from Tuesday at 2:00 pm
(not sure if New Orleans is EST?).

Also, have received a communication from Armand
Morin. He was very upset about those who are
"profiting" on this disaster. One guy sent out
an email looking for an "opt-in" to get our
email address/names in return for info on how to
help - geeze... what next; and another sent out
saying - buy this, and I'll donate - yeah
right. Anyway, Armand is a good man (and he
BLASTED those jerks) -- and I was thinking -
maybe he would do something WITH you whereby
anyone attending would donate and all of the
money would go to help the hurricane victims. I
sent an email to him telling him about your
idea, and asking if he might join in with you
..... or perhaps do one separately - I love the
idea! I bet there are hotels who would donate
the room too. Anyway - just ideas.

If you like anything I've said/sent - would love
to hear back from you....... and thank you for
reading.

Linda Rothenberger

Here's the copy from the doctor's email:

From: Gregory S. Henderson MD, PhD <[email protected]>

Thanks to all of you who have sent your
notes of concern and your prayers. I am
writing this note on Tuesday at 2PM. I
wanted to update all of you as to the
situation here. I don't know how much
information you are getting but I am certain
it is more than we are getting. Be advised
that almost everything I am telling you is
from direct observation or rumor from
reasonable sources. They are allowing
limited internet access, so I hope to send
this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My
family is safe in Jackson, MS, and I am now
a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton
Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was
my time to go, I wanted to go in a place
with a good wine list. In addition, this
hotel is in a very old building on Canal
Street that could and did sustain little
damage. Many of the other hotels sustained
significant loss of windows, and we expect
that many of the guests may be evacuated
here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but
they are much worse today. Overnight the
water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to
its origins) is indeed a canal. The first
floor of all downtown buildings is
underwater. I have heard that Charity
Hospital and Tulane are limited in their
ability to care for patients because of
water. Ochsner is the only hospital that
remains fully functional. However, I spoke
with them today and they too are on
generator and losing food and water fast.
The city now has no clean water, no sewerage
system, no electricity, and no real
communications. Bodies are still being
recovered floating in the floods. We are
worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the
police are without effective
communications. We have a group of armed
police here with us at the hotel that are
admirably trying to exert some local law
enforcement. This is tough because looting
is now rampant. Most of it is not
malicious looting. These are poor and
desperate people with no housing and no
medical care and no food or water trying to
take care of themselves and their families.
Unfortunately, the people are armed and
dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently.
Most of Canal street is occupied by armed
looters who have a low threshold for
discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots
frequently. The looters are using makeshift
boats made of pieces of styrofoam to
access. We are still waiting for a
significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has
dramatically worsened overnight. Many
people in the hotel are elderly and small
children. There are ID physicians in at
this hotel attending an HiV confection. We
have commandered the world famous French
Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift
clinic. There is a team of about 7 doctors
and PA and pharmacists. We anticipate that
this will be the major medical facility in
the central business district and French
Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the
Walgreens on Canal under police escort.
The pharmacy was dark and fulll of water.
We basically scooped the entire drug sets
into gargace bags and removed them. All
under police excort. The looters had to be
held back at gun point. After a dose of
prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up
a hospital in the the French Qarter bar in
the hotel, and will start admitting patients
today. Many with be from the hotel, but
many with not. We are anticipating to
dealing with multiple medical problems,
medications and and acute injuries.
Infection and perhaps even cholera are
anticipated major problems. Food and water
shortages are iminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where
is the national guard. We hear jet fighters
and helicopters, but no real armed presence,
and hence the rampant looting. There is no
Red Cross and no Salvation Army.

In a sort of cliché way, this is an edifying
experience. Once is rapidly focused away
from the transient and material to the bare
necessities of life. It has been
challenging to me to learn how to be a
primary care phyisican. We are under
martial law so return to our homes is
impossible. I don't know how long it will
be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it
all, this is a soul edify experience. The
greatest pain is to think about the loss.
And how long the rebuild will. And the
horror of so many dead people.

PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING
MAY BE INTERSTED IN A DISPATCH From the
front. I will send more according to your
interest. Hopefully their collective
prayers will be answered. By the way suture
packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will
be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH

Greg Henderson

If you're like so many other people and
don't know what to do, please take a few minutes and read
another issue of my newsletter. It's in the envelope with
the title

"Sewage Soup".

I'd like to thank each and every one of you
from around the globe who've helped.

Sincerely,

Gary C. Halbert