Hurricane Relief Update
Hello everyone. It has been really hard to separate the days or remember what you did one minute to the next. Sometimes what happens in 5 minutes stops you in time and feels like you have been experiencing the particular experience for hours or days instead of 5 minutes.
I will try to update you all on some of the things that have been going on with the medical teams. The biggest frustration has been getting in supplies. Dr. Oliveira & David Logue and Christa Robbins have been working to get the supplies to me here. Our first shipment was stopped by the government in Memphis and we have had to send volunteers to retrieve them.
Our group stationed at the Tammany Oaks church of Christ has become the central point and distribution center. We have unloaded 50 tractor trailer trucks of supples and the auditorium has become a warehouse. We fill up smaller trucks and trailers and distribute them to the shelters and people in need. We are at the point of needing all cleaning supplies, bleach, brooms, mops, and anything we can clean up the mess with.
Our first medical team (Victory Medical) worked in one of the larger shelters here. Rafia international set up in the town North of here in Slidel at the Spanish Trail Church of Christ for 2 days and met the needs in that town. A 9 person medical team will be arriving tomorrow with Marilyn Gilroy (thank goodness) with nurses and counselors. Jim Miller and two critical care nurses will be joining us on Tuesday along with Carol Sunter from Dr. Sunters office, Rachel from OB/Gyn and some help is coming from Indialantic family practice. The Hightowers will be also coming from Weustoff this week. Both critical care nurses. It is becoming increasingly difficult to care for people as the government agencies are requiring everyone go thru the system, which is time consuming.
The State of Louisiana has put me personally in charge of the medical care of 5 shelters here in the area that have 60 to 400 people in each one. Johnathon Hines has contacts in each one and was doing assessments before I arrived and has been invaluable to me personally as he knows the area, the people and has a heart of gold. We will be going today after church to reassess the needs. These people are sleeping in gymnasiums and classrooms and nothing more in the way of possessions than a Walmart bag. They dont have their meds, the biggest problem has been insulin. The pharmacies in the area have been awesome. If I write up their prescriptions they can take them to Walgreens or CVS or Walmart and they will give them enough for a month. Health care providers in this area are working around the clock. Many are still working their own jobs at the hospital and then sleeping at the shelters at night to help people that need help. The people with chronic pain conditions are really suffering as no one will write for narcotics and no one has narcotics at the medical relief areas. We have up large signs at each location telling the locals. Everyone wants the drugs and it makes for a very dangerous situation to have them in these medical facilities. Therefore we have chosen not to put anyone in danger by supplying them even if the need is real.
Yesterday I took a team to Mississippi by the request of the local Red Cross as they had not seen any relief efforts thus far. We were in the Waveland and Bay St. Louis area all day. The storm surge there was around 30 feet. The water went from the ocean to I-10. There were couches and trailers in the tops of 30 feet trees. Car lots with all the windows blown out from the sea water filling them up. Boats on top of houses, cars on top of houses, coffins in trees, a pool table in the woods near no houses. Blue x\'s mark the places where there are still dead bodies after 13 days. I even saw the blue x\'s on cars in Bay St. Louis yesterday. The odor is unbearable in many areas. Supplies are coming in from all over the country at all the relief centers but there are not enough people to organize all that has been sent. Do NOT SEND ANY CLOTHES. All the distribution centers are overcapacitated with unorganized clothing and will not accept any clothing donations.
There were children sleeping outside their use to be homes and the lucky ones have tents. It is hot and the mosquitos seem to have found their way back to the area. The EOC was just setting up yesterday and starting to asses needs in Wyn Mississippi. We are shaking our heads everytime we hear the news say there has been less than 200 fatalities. That is so far from the truth. I am sure it is at least 10 thousand in New Orleans alone and the area in Mississippi is not as heavily populated but there were alot of fatalities just on the main road into town. We are tired. We work from dawn to dusk. Yesterday we came home to electricity. (Praise God for whoever said the "power prayer". Getting things done with flashlights really slowed us down. One of the most rewarding thing is watching hundreds of volunteers from different states, religious backgrounds and heritage, working side by side. We had over 100 sleeping on the floor at the church last night (who was supposed to send mattresses and cots?? Please let me know.)
Tim has done a awesome job of organizing the logistics here at the center. Lana Cagle and Traci (local nurse) have run the warehouse and organized the trucks and distribution. The church staff is answering endless phone calls and trying to keep us all connected. The phones are still a big problem and communication is still sketchy. "
We will continue to do as much as we can here to relieve the devastation on theses people. We need funds more than anything. We are spending about 5K a day just to feed people, run the relief, pay for trucks and gas and operational expenses and things we have to buy for people.
Serving with you,
Gayle Davidson
I will try to update you all on some of the things that have been going on with the medical teams. The biggest frustration has been getting in supplies. Dr. Oliveira & David Logue and Christa Robbins have been working to get the supplies to me here. Our first shipment was stopped by the government in Memphis and we have had to send volunteers to retrieve them.
Our group stationed at the Tammany Oaks church of Christ has become the central point and distribution center. We have unloaded 50 tractor trailer trucks of supples and the auditorium has become a warehouse. We fill up smaller trucks and trailers and distribute them to the shelters and people in need. We are at the point of needing all cleaning supplies, bleach, brooms, mops, and anything we can clean up the mess with.
Our first medical team (Victory Medical) worked in one of the larger shelters here. Rafia international set up in the town North of here in Slidel at the Spanish Trail Church of Christ for 2 days and met the needs in that town. A 9 person medical team will be arriving tomorrow with Marilyn Gilroy (thank goodness) with nurses and counselors. Jim Miller and two critical care nurses will be joining us on Tuesday along with Carol Sunter from Dr. Sunters office, Rachel from OB/Gyn and some help is coming from Indialantic family practice. The Hightowers will be also coming from Weustoff this week. Both critical care nurses. It is becoming increasingly difficult to care for people as the government agencies are requiring everyone go thru the system, which is time consuming.
The State of Louisiana has put me personally in charge of the medical care of 5 shelters here in the area that have 60 to 400 people in each one. Johnathon Hines has contacts in each one and was doing assessments before I arrived and has been invaluable to me personally as he knows the area, the people and has a heart of gold. We will be going today after church to reassess the needs. These people are sleeping in gymnasiums and classrooms and nothing more in the way of possessions than a Walmart bag. They dont have their meds, the biggest problem has been insulin. The pharmacies in the area have been awesome. If I write up their prescriptions they can take them to Walgreens or CVS or Walmart and they will give them enough for a month. Health care providers in this area are working around the clock. Many are still working their own jobs at the hospital and then sleeping at the shelters at night to help people that need help. The people with chronic pain conditions are really suffering as no one will write for narcotics and no one has narcotics at the medical relief areas. We have up large signs at each location telling the locals. Everyone wants the drugs and it makes for a very dangerous situation to have them in these medical facilities. Therefore we have chosen not to put anyone in danger by supplying them even if the need is real.
Yesterday I took a team to Mississippi by the request of the local Red Cross as they had not seen any relief efforts thus far. We were in the Waveland and Bay St. Louis area all day. The storm surge there was around 30 feet. The water went from the ocean to I-10. There were couches and trailers in the tops of 30 feet trees. Car lots with all the windows blown out from the sea water filling them up. Boats on top of houses, cars on top of houses, coffins in trees, a pool table in the woods near no houses. Blue x\'s mark the places where there are still dead bodies after 13 days. I even saw the blue x\'s on cars in Bay St. Louis yesterday. The odor is unbearable in many areas. Supplies are coming in from all over the country at all the relief centers but there are not enough people to organize all that has been sent. Do NOT SEND ANY CLOTHES. All the distribution centers are overcapacitated with unorganized clothing and will not accept any clothing donations.
There were children sleeping outside their use to be homes and the lucky ones have tents. It is hot and the mosquitos seem to have found their way back to the area. The EOC was just setting up yesterday and starting to asses needs in Wyn Mississippi. We are shaking our heads everytime we hear the news say there has been less than 200 fatalities. That is so far from the truth. I am sure it is at least 10 thousand in New Orleans alone and the area in Mississippi is not as heavily populated but there were alot of fatalities just on the main road into town. We are tired. We work from dawn to dusk. Yesterday we came home to electricity. (Praise God for whoever said the "power prayer". Getting things done with flashlights really slowed us down. One of the most rewarding thing is watching hundreds of volunteers from different states, religious backgrounds and heritage, working side by side. We had over 100 sleeping on the floor at the church last night (who was supposed to send mattresses and cots?? Please let me know.)
Tim has done a awesome job of organizing the logistics here at the center. Lana Cagle and Traci (local nurse) have run the warehouse and organized the trucks and distribution. The church staff is answering endless phone calls and trying to keep us all connected. The phones are still a big problem and communication is still sketchy. "
We will continue to do as much as we can here to relieve the devastation on theses people. We need funds more than anything. We are spending about 5K a day just to feed people, run the relief, pay for trucks and gas and operational expenses and things we have to buy for people.
Serving with you,
Gayle Davidson
posted by Hines Family at 4:58 PM
<< Home