The 911 From My Red Cross Contact In Houston

I spoke with my mother tonight. She is apparently dealing with infection control there in Houston. She somehow fell into a management position that only she can do though she says she’s not truly qualified — I don’t believe her on that. Anyway, I thought I’d share some of her tidbits.

• People claiming to be medical folk are coming out of the woodwork there. Nurses are showing up at the Astrodome without any prior warning. Red Cross cannot use these instant volunteers as Red Cross medical-type volunteers must go through prior clinical background checks among other things. Unfortunately, not every organization dealing with the relief is that strict and apparently a suspected mentally ill man presented himself as a doctor and then barracaded himself in a room in the Astrodome for two days after he was trusted to perform medical tasks.If you are a medical-type person wanting to volunteer, it’s best to do so through your local hospital in the 2nd or 3rd wave of medical-types going down there. In fact, there will be a large number of medical “clinics” set up for Katrina victims and manned by hospitals (including the one I work for).
• My mother heard a rumor that some of the prisoners who were being evac’d escaped into the general population but she stressed that it was just a rumor. She has not heard that from any official-type sources.
• My mother heard the rumor that there was an outbreak of cholera in the Astrodome. That is absolutely not true. While some people have experienced diarrhea, that is expected in cases where people have been dehydrated, starved, and in filfth for days.
• There was a rumor today that FEMA was going to be handing out checks at the Astrodome. Thousands of people tried to storm the Astrodome and there had to be a lockdown where even Red Cross people could not enter or leave.
• I mentioned to my mother about collecting used books and such to send to the victims and she suggested this was a bad idea. This apparently causes more work than is necessary as everything sent has to be sorted and there are hundreds of volunteers who are just sorting all day through clothes and other donations in the Astrodome. She said that money is better as Red Cross or whomever the money is sent to can be spent on items that do not require as much processing and often they hand out gift cards with that money so the purchases can be tracked and the victims can buy things they need, not what they’re told they need.

By the way, in case I haven’t mentioned it, my mother really is my hero. I told her so tonight too. I found an article online from her local paper that was all about her and her good works. I’m sure she’s pleased they published her age.

Also, my mother stressed that it’s time to stop finger-pointing and stop worrying about investigations about what went wrong and start doing something about it. This is a tremendous tragedy that is going to affect the entire country for years to come. Not only is New Orleans a major port, not only will gas and oil prices be high, but a lot of these people will never go back to New Orleans. Most of these displaced New Orleaneans will find jobs and start new lives wherever they are. They may trickle back eventually but for now, there has been an influx in Texas of at least 60,000 people and that will effect the economy of that state in many ways. But my mother is definitely upset about the fact that Red Cross has been warning of this impending disaster for years and no one wanted to listen — heck, she was one of the voices there telling them to have a plan. She is probably most upset that they didn’t appear to have ever planned on what to do in the aftermath.

Despite everything she’s seen and heard, she seemed to be in good spirits.

tags: Hurricane Katrina, Red Cross, relief, FEMA

2 comments

1. on September 9, 2005 at 9:56 am

   Surfside said:

   Props to your mother, and thanks for sharing. My prayers are with both the victims and the volunteers.

2. on September 9, 2005 at 8:35 pm

   Roy said:

   Great site!!!!

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