Monday, September 19, 2005
Where hundreds died -- under medical care - N.Y. Times
... Autopsies have not been conducted, but many [New Orleans] hospitals said patients were elderly, in organ failure or had just had serious surgery. When the power went down, they had to endure days of 110-degree temperatures with high humidity, and the most desperate had to be manually ventilated - air squeezed into their lungs by hand for hours at a time.
...
Other hospitals were not as lucky. Methodist was on the low-lying east side ... [and] tried to evacuate 20 critically ill patients ... but no ambulances were available. ...After the levees broke, five feet of water filled Methodist's reception area within 15 minutes. Fires started when the main generator shorted out. But people kept arriving. "We had one woman who was a post-op kidney transplant swim in," she said.
...
... top officials at Universal Health Services, the company that runs the hospital, that they had rented two trucks with food, water and diesel fuel and sent them on, "but they were confiscated by federal authorities," she said. The company also hired two helicopters, but officials refused to let them fly, she said.
...
A police officer who is the husband of a Methodist nurse made his way home to get his boat and Jet Ski. On his way back, she said, federal authorities commandeered the Jet Ski for attic rescues but let him keep the boat, with which he brought food, water and dry clothes.
...
Dr. Thomas, who was born at Charity Hospital, said the next four days "were as close as I've gotten to the third world. I felt like I was in a war zone."
About 60 flood survivors wandered in, and he gave them a lounge to sleep in and paper scrubs to wear. But after a day, "they started to complain - they got rowdy about the heat, and finally they got threatening, saying they wanted to eat, and wanted to eat before our staff did. They threatened our nurses with physical harm."
Shooting outside became regular and, at one point, he said "four guys went past us in a hot tub, paddling with two-by-fours. They had guns and two floating boxes with their loot."
...
Dr. Thomas said he first put his neonatal babies in boats with their mothers and some doctors, "but they were turned around at gunpoint by Tulane police officers," he said. ...
... Autopsies have not been conducted, but many [New Orleans] hospitals said patients were elderly, in organ failure or had just had serious surgery. When the power went down, they had to endure days of 110-degree temperatures with high humidity, and the most desperate had to be manually ventilated - air squeezed into their lungs by hand for hours at a time.
...
Other hospitals were not as lucky. Methodist was on the low-lying east side ... [and] tried to evacuate 20 critically ill patients ... but no ambulances were available. ...After the levees broke, five feet of water filled Methodist's reception area within 15 minutes. Fires started when the main generator shorted out. But people kept arriving. "We had one woman who was a post-op kidney transplant swim in," she said.
...
... top officials at Universal Health Services, the company that runs the hospital, that they had rented two trucks with food, water and diesel fuel and sent them on, "but they were confiscated by federal authorities," she said. The company also hired two helicopters, but officials refused to let them fly, she said.
...
A police officer who is the husband of a Methodist nurse made his way home to get his boat and Jet Ski. On his way back, she said, federal authorities commandeered the Jet Ski for attic rescues but let him keep the boat, with which he brought food, water and dry clothes.
...
Dr. Thomas, who was born at Charity Hospital, said the next four days "were as close as I've gotten to the third world. I felt like I was in a war zone."
About 60 flood survivors wandered in, and he gave them a lounge to sleep in and paper scrubs to wear. But after a day, "they started to complain - they got rowdy about the heat, and finally they got threatening, saying they wanted to eat, and wanted to eat before our staff did. They threatened our nurses with physical harm."
Shooting outside became regular and, at one point, he said "four guys went past us in a hot tub, paddling with two-by-fours. They had guns and two floating boxes with their loot."
...
Dr. Thomas said he first put his neonatal babies in boats with their mothers and some doctors, "but they were turned around at gunpoint by Tulane police officers," he said. ...
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Gruesome grizzly attack as man, bear shield own - Seattle P-I
And so the bear and the 43-year-old administrator ... locked in an ancient battle hardwired into each of their genes: Protect your young at all costs. Even your life.
...
"I felt her tooth go into my scalp," he said. "I thought, 'Oh, this is no good.' " Then he felt his scalp rip clean away.
Otter, whose wry sense of humor was just about the only thing left intact by the attack, lived (barely) and recounted his ordeal Friday from Harborview Medical Center, where surgeons fashioned him a new scalp and bolted his battered body back together.
He recalled that with his head clamped in the bear's jaws, he could hear his skull crack. It occurred to him he could die.
"But then I thought, 'No, that's not an option today.' "
And just as suddenly, he felt the bear release him. ...
And so the bear and the 43-year-old administrator ... locked in an ancient battle hardwired into each of their genes: Protect your young at all costs. Even your life.
...
"I felt her tooth go into my scalp," he said. "I thought, 'Oh, this is no good.' " Then he felt his scalp rip clean away.
Otter, whose wry sense of humor was just about the only thing left intact by the attack, lived (barely) and recounted his ordeal Friday from Harborview Medical Center, where surgeons fashioned him a new scalp and bolted his battered body back together.
He recalled that with his head clamped in the bear's jaws, he could hear his skull crack. It occurred to him he could die.
"But then I thought, 'No, that's not an option today.' "
And just as suddenly, he felt the bear release him. ...
'But I Just Want to Know, Where's My Baby?' - N.Y. Times
If she didn't have younger siblings to watch and three of her own small children depending on her, Lakerisha Boyd could ... cry for her youngest child, Torry Lee, who is still missing almost two weeks after the storm.
...
Officials said there was no way at this point to estimate how many children have been severed from families, but early figures suggest the tally could be in the thousands.
...
Some of the parents have told the group that when they were evacuating the city, they placed their children on earlier buses in the mistaken belief that when they got seats on a later bus, the whole family would end up in the same place.
...
The difficulties of the mission are almost impossible to overstate. In some cases, the children who have been found are too young to give their names or are too traumatized to speak, even if they are of age to talk. In other cases, investigators have no photographs of the children to circulate because they were left behind in the floods.
If she didn't have younger siblings to watch and three of her own small children depending on her, Lakerisha Boyd could ... cry for her youngest child, Torry Lee, who is still missing almost two weeks after the storm.
...
Officials said there was no way at this point to estimate how many children have been severed from families, but early figures suggest the tally could be in the thousands.
...
Some of the parents have told the group that when they were evacuating the city, they placed their children on earlier buses in the mistaken belief that when they got seats on a later bus, the whole family would end up in the same place.
...
The difficulties of the mission are almost impossible to overstate. In some cases, the children who have been found are too young to give their names or are too traumatized to speak, even if they are of age to talk. In other cases, investigators have no photographs of the children to circulate because they were left behind in the floods.
Hurricane Katrina: The toll on animals Photos - Chicago Tribune
[scroll down to the link in the sidebar at left]
...
Hurricane Katrina victim Sondra Sercovich ... shows off her new furry friend "Peanut", a 4-week old baby squirrel she rescued after the hurricane. The animal lover who has 11 cats, 12 tortoises, three dogs, two chameleons, and five children, has been keeping the squirrel warm on her chest, and will be intregrating the squirrel into the family.
...
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Valerie had to leave behind four of their pets when she, and her husband who is a liver transplant patient, had to be evacuated to a liver specialist for supervision. ...
[scroll down to the link in the sidebar at left]
...
Hurricane Katrina victim Sondra Sercovich ... shows off her new furry friend "Peanut", a 4-week old baby squirrel she rescued after the hurricane. The animal lover who has 11 cats, 12 tortoises, three dogs, two chameleons, and five children, has been keeping the squirrel warm on her chest, and will be intregrating the squirrel into the family.
...
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Valerie had to leave behind four of their pets when she, and her husband who is a liver transplant patient, had to be evacuated to a liver specialist for supervision. ...
Message in a Bottle - Chicago Tribune
... Even more bizarre was the scrawled message the agent found in an empty wine bottle floating down Canal Street.Dated Sept. 1, it said: "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 'PLEASE SEND WITH IMMEDIATELY, [ONE] ICE COLD CHEST OF COORS LIGHT. I'M OUT AT THIS TIME. DOWN TO WINE. SOME SHRIMP AND OYSTERS WOULD ALSO BE APPRECIATED. THANK YOU." It was signed and had an address.Belton's rescue team found the author, who between sips of wine on his porch told them he was staying put, noting he had enough wine to last "quite a few days."Belton said he was going to frame the note because it was "pure New Orleans." ...
... Even more bizarre was the scrawled message the agent found in an empty wine bottle floating down Canal Street.Dated Sept. 1, it said: "TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: 'PLEASE SEND WITH IMMEDIATELY, [ONE] ICE COLD CHEST OF COORS LIGHT. I'M OUT AT THIS TIME. DOWN TO WINE. SOME SHRIMP AND OYSTERS WOULD ALSO BE APPRECIATED. THANK YOU." It was signed and had an address.Belton's rescue team found the author, who between sips of wine on his porch told them he was staying put, noting he had enough wine to last "quite a few days."Belton said he was going to frame the note because it was "pure New Orleans." ...
Best Friends Need Shelter, Too - Washington Post
... The Los Angeles Times reported on Patricia Penny, who wondered whether her son Billy had survived. She had begged him to leave, but he was afraid to abandon his animals. CNN showed the rescue of a family, including a dog, sitting on a rooftop as a boat pulled up. The boat left without the dog. Staying with a dog and risking their own lives is not an option for people who have children to provide for. The parents were given no choice but to abandon the dog, and to break their children's hearts. As they pulled away they all watched their trusting, confused and terrified canine family member alone on the roof.
One woman, with no other possessions left, offered her rescuer the wedding ring off her finger to save her dog, to no avail.
A young boy carried a dog in his arms as he tried to board a bus to the Houston Astrodome. Dogs were not allowed. The Associated Press story reported that "a police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. 'Snowball, Snowball,' " he cried." In a similar story, an old woman, traveling alone except for the poodle in her arms, was forced to leave him behind to wander the streets. We have read other stories of elderly people forced to choose between their lifesaving medications or their life-affirming pets. CNN's Anderson Cooper even reported on a woman, legally blind, who for 10 days had been told that she could not take her service dog with her if she was evacuated. She had stayed put until the CNN cameras arrived and the police relented. ...
... The Los Angeles Times reported on Patricia Penny, who wondered whether her son Billy had survived. She had begged him to leave, but he was afraid to abandon his animals. CNN showed the rescue of a family, including a dog, sitting on a rooftop as a boat pulled up. The boat left without the dog. Staying with a dog and risking their own lives is not an option for people who have children to provide for. The parents were given no choice but to abandon the dog, and to break their children's hearts. As they pulled away they all watched their trusting, confused and terrified canine family member alone on the roof.
One woman, with no other possessions left, offered her rescuer the wedding ring off her finger to save her dog, to no avail.
A young boy carried a dog in his arms as he tried to board a bus to the Houston Astrodome. Dogs were not allowed. The Associated Press story reported that "a police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. 'Snowball, Snowball,' " he cried." In a similar story, an old woman, traveling alone except for the poodle in her arms, was forced to leave him behind to wander the streets. We have read other stories of elderly people forced to choose between their lifesaving medications or their life-affirming pets. CNN's Anderson Cooper even reported on a woman, legally blind, who for 10 days had been told that she could not take her service dog with her if she was evacuated. She had stayed put until the CNN cameras arrived and the police relented. ...
Killed for a bag of ice - U.K. Guardian
Tempers were beginning to flare in the aftermath of the storm. Police said a man fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice in Hattiesburg, Miss. ...
Tempers were beginning to flare in the aftermath of the storm. Police said a man fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice in Hattiesburg, Miss. ...
EPA chief had hard choice in New Orleans - Seattle P-I
The decision to pour heavily contaminated floodwaters from New Orleans streets into Lake Pontchartrain was a difficult one and could pose new environmental problems in the years ahead ...
"This water is very unsafe. It's a health hazard."
The first set of samples tested show it has a level of sewage-related bacteria that is at least 10 times higher than acceptable, as well as a surprising amount of lead. Louisiana officials believe it is laced with an assortment of heavy metals, pesticides and toxic chemicals.
...
Related article: Lake faces aftermath of city catastrophe - BBC News
Pontchartrain is home to more than 125 species of aquatic life, from anchovies to alligators.
Wildlife in the wetlands of the lake's basin includes otters and wild boar, ducks and eagles. ...
The decision to pour heavily contaminated floodwaters from New Orleans streets into Lake Pontchartrain was a difficult one and could pose new environmental problems in the years ahead ...
"This water is very unsafe. It's a health hazard."
The first set of samples tested show it has a level of sewage-related bacteria that is at least 10 times higher than acceptable, as well as a surprising amount of lead. Louisiana officials believe it is laced with an assortment of heavy metals, pesticides and toxic chemicals.
...
Related article: Lake faces aftermath of city catastrophe - BBC News
Pontchartrain is home to more than 125 species of aquatic life, from anchovies to alligators.
Wildlife in the wetlands of the lake's basin includes otters and wild boar, ducks and eagles. ...
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