teeroy
Life Member
> Subject: Louisiana Evacuations & Shelters...another
> side to the story!
>
>
> Louisiana Evacuations & Shelters
>
> Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:3 1:31 +0000
>
> Hello Mr. O'Reilly,
>
> I am a nurse who has just completed working approximately
> 120 hours as the
> clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter in
> Shreveport,
> Louisiana over the last 7 days. I would love to see
> someone look at
> the evacuee situation from a new perspective. Local and
> national news channels
> have covered the evacuation and "horrible"
> conditions the
> evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.
>
> True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and
> the shelters need
> some modification.
>
> At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or
> irresponsibility) of the evacuees?
>
> Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell
> phone,
> charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their
> child's insulin?
>
> Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks
> immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate
> free refills on all medicines
> for which they cannot provide a prescription or current
> bottle (most of
> which are narcotics)?
>
> Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they
> cannot afford a $3
> copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the
> shelter yet they can
> take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of
> Vodka, and return to
> consume them secretly in the shelter?
>
> Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming
> evacuees so
> as not to delay the registration process but endanger the
> volunteer staff and
> other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs,
> alcohol and weapons being
> brought into the shelter?
>
> Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub
> emesis
> from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies
> nearby, watching
> me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from
> the pillow to comfort
> her own son?
>
> Why does it incense me to hear a man say "I ain't
> goin' home 'til I
> get my FEMA check" when I would love to just go home
> and see my daughters who I
> have only seen 3 times this week?
>
> Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient
> must find a
> way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay
> his copay while the
> FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire
> free medications
> under the disaster rules?
>
> Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter
> is
> paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during
> the day as the
> shelter provides a "day care"?
>
> Have government entitlements created this mentality and am
> I
> facilitating it with my work?
>
> Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian
> if I
> hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked
> for 7 days being called
> every curse word imaginable, felt threatened and feared for
> my personal safety
> in the shelter?
>
> Exhausted and battered but hopefully pithy,
>
> Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN
> side to the story!
>
>
> Louisiana Evacuations & Shelters
>
> Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:3 1:31 +0000
>
> Hello Mr. O'Reilly,
>
> I am a nurse who has just completed working approximately
> 120 hours as the
> clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter in
> Shreveport,
> Louisiana over the last 7 days. I would love to see
> someone look at
> the evacuee situation from a new perspective. Local and
> national news channels
> have covered the evacuation and "horrible"
> conditions the
> evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.
>
> True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and
> the shelters need
> some modification.
>
> At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or
> irresponsibility) of the evacuees?
>
> Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell
> phone,
> charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their
> child's insulin?
>
> Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks
> immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate
> free refills on all medicines
> for which they cannot provide a prescription or current
> bottle (most of
> which are narcotics)?
>
> Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they
> cannot afford a $3
> copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the
> shelter yet they can
> take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of
> Vodka, and return to
> consume them secretly in the shelter?
>
> Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming
> evacuees so
> as not to delay the registration process but endanger the
> volunteer staff and
> other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs,
> alcohol and weapons being
> brought into the shelter?
>
> Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub
> emesis
> from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies
> nearby, watching
> me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from
> the pillow to comfort
> her own son?
>
> Why does it incense me to hear a man say "I ain't
> goin' home 'til I
> get my FEMA check" when I would love to just go home
> and see my daughters who I
> have only seen 3 times this week?
>
> Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient
> must find a
> way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay
> his copay while the
> FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire
> free medications
> under the disaster rules?
>
> Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter
> is
> paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during
> the day as the
> shelter provides a "day care"?
>
> Have government entitlements created this mentality and am
> I
> facilitating it with my work?
>
> Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian
> if I
> hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked
> for 7 days being called
> every curse word imaginable, felt threatened and feared for
> my personal safety
> in the shelter?
>
> Exhausted and battered but hopefully pithy,
>
> Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN