'I could have saved her life but was denied permission'
Refugees from New Orleans died after private doctors were ordered to stop giving treatment because they were not covered by United States government medical liability insurance, according to two American surgeons. Dr Perlmutter arrived with Clark Gerhart, a surgeon colleague, and Alison Torrens, from Co Antrim, a medical student at Aberdeen University. All three had volunteered their services free of charge.
Dr Perlmutter said that he begged to be allowed to work until he could be relieved by a Fema doctor but was told that this was not possible. Kim Pease, a Fema spokesman, said: "The volunteer doctor [Dr Perlmutter] was not a credentialed Fema physician and, thus, was subject to law enforcement rules in a disaster area." The three were flown back to Baton Rouge in another Black Hawk and were then swiftly given credentials by the Louisiana state authorities. They spent four days treating hundreds of patients.
Mexican military sending soldiers to US
A Mexican Navy ship set sail Monday with aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and President Vicente Fox said a Mexican Army mission would follow. "Mexico and the United States are nations which are neighbors and friends which should always have solidarity in moments of difficulty," Fox said in a message issued Monday night. Fox said the Mexican Navy ship Papaloapan left the Gulf coast port of Tampico on Monday, headed for New Orleans with eight all-terrain rescue vehicles, seven amphibious cargo vehicles, a mobile hospital, two rescue helicopters and drinking water. An Army convoy of 15 vehicles was to follow on Wednesday, carrying food, health brigades, water-treatment plants and mobile kitchens with the capacity to feed 7,000 people a day.
Conditions in New Orleans Still Dire - Pumping May Take Months
Scores of amphibious vehicles and Humvees carrying thousands of newly dispatched armed National Guardsmen pushed through New Orleans in a daylong parade, hoping to replenish the dire needs of the stranded and to try to restore order to a city that had devolved into wantonness. In one sign of the boundless despair, police officials acknowledged that some New Orleans officers had turned in their badges, refusing to risk their lives to try to right the city.
Dan Craig, director of recovery for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, estimated that it could take six months to drain the city and another three months to dry it. State officials said that it would take more than a month, and that pumping would begin on Monday.
By Friday, about 19,500 National Guard troops had arrived in Louisiana and Mississippi, and 6,500 in New Orleans itself, mostly military police officers, though Mr. Nagin maintained that was still not enough. Senior Pentagon and military officials said the Guard presence in the hurricane zone would grow to 30,000 in coming days, mostly in Louisiana and Mississippi, with the rest going to Alabama and Florida.
The Superdome, where upward of 25,000 people had sweltered in conditions described as unfit for animals, was mostly emptied, though 1,500 were still there late Friday. They had renamed the place, rife with overflowing toilets and reports of murder and rape, the Sewerdome.
The plan was to close the holes that the storm tides had opened and break open new holes in places where the levees were holding water in the city rather than letting it out. A train of dump trucks and a yellow bulldozer began laying a narrow, temporary road of black rubble and gravel from dry ground to the north end of the 300-foot breach in a wall of the 17th Street Canal, through which most of the floodwaters passed. At the same time, heavy-lift helicopters lowered hundreds of huge sandbags into the south end of the gap.
Immunizations for Louisiana were stored in New Orleans
The CDC is prepared to send replacements, but they need a facility with: an 8 x 14 walk in freezer, an 8 x 12 freezer, 1 computer with internet access, a packaging area, and a storage area for the ice chests.
CDC will supply a backup generator for the freezers. If you can help, contact Murray Lloyd, murrayll@bellsouth.net, 318-865-9165 or 318-458-1892.
'John Wayne' general hits New Orleans
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore is "one John Wayne dude," Mayor Ray Nagin said in an interview this week with radio station WWL. Nagin said that sending Honore was the one thing he could give President Bush credit for -- "he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussin' and people started movin'!"
CNN reported that Honore has also ordered National Guard troops and even police officers in New Orleans to keep their guns pointed down. The general told CNN that he is most concerned with getting food, water and other necessities to the thousands of people still trapped in the city.
Troops Bring Food, Medicine to New Orleans
Law and order all but broke down in New Orleans over the past few days. Storm refugees reported being raped, shot and robbed, gangs of teenagers hijacked boats meant to rescue them, and frustrated storm refugees menaced outmanned law officers Police Chief Eddie Compass admitted even his own officers had taken food and water from stores. Officers were walking off the job by the dozens.
Some of New Orleans' hospitals, facing dwindling supplies of food, water and medicine, resumed evacuations Friday. Rescuers finally made it into Charity Hospital, the city's largest public hospital, where gunfire had earlier thwarted efforts to evacuate more than 250 patients. Behind, they left a flooded morgue where residents had been dropping off bodies. After it reached its capacity of 12, five more corpses were stacked in a stairwell. Other bodies were elsewhere in the hospital.
Administrator Don Smithburg said his numbed staff was forced to subsist on intravenous sugar solutions.
Halliburton hired for storm cleanup
The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.
KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.
Aid offers pour in from around the globe
9/1/2005 4:17 pm ET source: MSNBC
In a dramatic turnabout, the United States is now on the receiving end of help from around the world as some two dozen countries offer post-hurricane assistance. However, in Moscow, a Russian official said the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency had rejected a Russian offer to dispatch rescue teams and other aid.
Boats, aircraft, tents, blankets, generators, cash assistance and medical teams have been offered to the U.S. government in Washington or in embassies overseas. Offers have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States, the spokesman said.
Still, Bush told ABC-TV: “I’m not expecting much from foreign nations because we hadn’t asked for it. I do expect a lot of sympathy and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country’s going to rise up and take care of it.”
FEMA Charity List includes Pat Robertson's group
9/1/2005 14:25 pm source: Daily Kos
FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of suggested charities to help the storm's hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red Cross is first on the list. The Rev. Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing" is next on the list.
Mass Confusion at the U.S. Federal Level
A specialized urban search and rescue team from Vancouver will be joining the rescue efforts in Louisiana in the wake of hurricane Katrina. B.C. Solicitor General John Les said the province decided to send Vancouver Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) after officials in Louisiana asked for help.
A Canadian reader over at the Daily Kos pointed out this CTV news broadcast:
On tonight's news, CTV (Canadian TV) said that support was offered from Canada. Planes are ready to load with food and medical supplies and a system called "DART" which can provide fresh water and medical supplies is standing by. Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina. So, everything here is grounded.
Guard, NORTHCOM Respond to Hurricane Aftermath
Twenty-four hours after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, an estimated 7,500 National Guard troops from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi were on duty today, supporting civil authorities, distributing generators, providing medical care, and setting up shelters for displaced residents.
...98,000 Guard troops from 12 states in or near the hurricane-stricken region are available to immediately support emergency operations, she said. Nationwide, an estimated 337,000 Guard troops are available to be deployed to states impacted by the hurricane.
Evacuation of more than 500 patients from hotels in New Orleans under way
State officials are working to move more than 500 patients from four downtown hotels where rising waters are jeopardizing the generator supplying the power to some of them alive.
State Health Officer Dr. Jimmy Guidry said today that evacuations have begun for patients in LSU's University Medical Center, Tulane University Hospital, Veterans Administration Hospital and the state's Charity Hospital.
'No matter what we do (now) we are going to put them at risk," he said. He is also worried about patients coming into contact with floodwater, mosquitoes and other contaminants.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency tried to set up a field hospital in the New Orleans Arena, but rain has infiltrated the building and the operation had to be abandoned, Zuschlag said.
Acadian is also sending personnel to the Superdome, which he said has seen an increase in population from 15,000 to nearly 25,000 as refugees came in overnight, Zuschlag said.
Jeff Parish residents must leave for one month
8/30/2005 source: WWL-TV
Jeff Parish President. Residents will probably be allowed back in town in a week, with identification only, but only to get essentials and clothing. You will then be asked to leave and not come back for one month.
