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Post by Laura on Sept 8, 2005 12:54:54 GMT -5
....for NO. We need to get a handle on the situation with the floodwater, so I'm flying out tomorrow morning with 5 others from our group to Atlanta for a briefing, and then on to New Orleans.
I'll check in if I can, if not, I'll be back on Wednesday.
Have a good weekend folks!
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Post by sibemom on Sept 8, 2005 13:03:02 GMT -5
YOU BE CAREFUL  We will all be thinking of you and keeping good thoughts ;D |
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Post by Brooke on Sept 8, 2005 19:50:54 GMT -5
If it's possible to admire you, envy you for the ability and think you are crazy all at the same time... I raise my hand. I wish I had the resources to afford to go. Please be very careful. I hope you don't go to an area thats too bad off. All that toxic water...and I heard some guys trying to repair cellular phone towers were being shot at. I watch and listen to the news all day and it's hard not to want to go help when you see all those people... On the upside... you may get to see Harry Connick Jr. walking around without his shirt on like he was down there on the news yesterday! OMG... First day I was late to work and dang it ... it was so worth it. If there was anything I could ask for... that would be it  He can save me any day. ;D He's my favorite! |
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Post by Richard on Sept 8, 2005 20:47:10 GMT -5
As the others have said:
BE CAREFUL and use 100% Situational awareness at all times down there and come home safe!
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Post by Nicole on Sept 9, 2005 16:04:57 GMT -5
That is amazing that you are going to NO. Are you going to do the water testing? That is so nice of all of you to do this.  Please be careful and I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. Be safe. And don't touch the water!!!! |
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Post by Tammi21 on Sept 12, 2005 1:24:13 GMT -5
You are a brave one. Good luck and Gods speed.
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Post by Laura on Sept 13, 2005 23:13:56 GMT -5
Honey, I'm home.
Flew in tonight, and I'm exhausted, drained and very, very happy to be home.
Nice, shmice, we were ORDERED to go, a crew from my lab, one from Chicago, and one from Rochester all went down to headquarters in Atlanta first for debriefing, then on to MI, LA and FL. For those of you who aren't aware, I am a zoonotic pathologist, so I was a bit out of my element, but I can still draw samples from live folks and read a slide fairly well, so off I went.
Before I go on any further, I have to say that I'm ashamed to say I work (indirectly) for the US government, 80% of what happened in NO could have been prevented, from the loss of life to the lawlessness that followed, and I saw some things while down there that made me ill, from the bureaucracy and gladhanding to the way the citizens below the poverty line are treated. I am going to try to retire early from my position in March and try to find a job in the private sector.
But I digress, back to the trip.....
We flew into Fort Polk, and then on to NO. The devastation is almost beyond comprehension, it bordered on surreal. I've been to New Orleans before, and while the French Quarter actually was in reasonably good shape, the rest of the low areas were destroyed, leveled completely. Mansions in the old city that have stood for a hundred years are gone, the cemetarys, still underwater, all of the statuary ruined, it was heartbreaking.
Under military supervision, teams went and picked samples from checkpoints all over the city, there's a huge outbreak of Shigella in the children, as well as the elderly, as well as cases of Giardia and Crypto. There is also some kind of skin disorder as well, almost looks like ringworm, but it's not, and the epidemiologists are working on it.
Containment is going to be almost impossible, the people are jammed into shelters, so all we could do is treat and release.
I'm going back to Atlanta on Monday, there's going to be reams of paperwork and followup that needs to be done, and then back to NY to sort out data and findings.
It's going to be a long autumm.
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Post by Brooke on Sept 13, 2005 23:17:10 GMT -5
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Post by Richard on Sept 14, 2005 6:52:46 GMT -5
Hi Laura,
Welcome back...glad you're home safe.
Your descriptions of the area probably doesn't even come close to what you saw and felt...even the pictures probably don't tell 1/4 of the story.
I just hope the people most devastated by this event get the help they deserve and that the THREE levels of Government get thier act together and sort out the mess so something like this never happens again after a natural disaster!
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Post by Nicole on Sept 14, 2005 16:59:35 GMT -5
I am glad that you are home safe too!! It sounds awful. I haven't even heard of most of those diseases. |
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