LSU Katrina Relief 2005

Day Four: Outrage and Devastation...Help now!

2005-09-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

I need your help.

Friday was a day of devastation for me.

After working emails all day long and helping check-in government officials, I went back to the field house for another night of volunteering. I walked in feeling hopeful and excited. One of my best friends was coming along for her first night there and I knew she was going to love it. Donations were coming from all over the country. Thousands more had read the letter. My best friend and her family raised $9,000 and were on their way down to deliver the supplies.

Then, my world stopped.

In case you haven’t read my letter from day two, here is the background story:

To close out the night, I helped a little girl named LaShawna shower and tucked her in to bed. LaShawna and her brother and sisters were going to be shipped to another shelter downtown (holding thousands of people) WITHOUT their grandmothers who were sick. It seems like sometimes people lose their sanity in trying to make decisions. They were going to leave four small children by themselves to care for themselves! Thankfully, two of my best guy friends found out and “laid down the law.” They were allowed to stay. Thank God.

I must say, the resiliency of children is amazing. After her shower, LaShawna was all smiles and wanted to be held before she went to sleep. I felt so needed. It was wonderful.

Upon arriving Friday night, I saw my friend Ryan. He is one of the guys who made sure that LaShawna and her siblings were not sent to the River Center shelter alone. I had not seen Ryan since the night I helped her and, on night three, her family was gone. I asked him casually where they were sent. I was not worried because we were promised they would be together and everything would be fine.
This is NOT the case!

He didn’t know. No one knew. He left to buy them some things and when he returned, they were gone. There are no records. We don’t even know if they are together. Right now, this 6-year-old little girl – who I love so dearly – may be without a guardian and without her siblings. Unless these kids (the oldest who is ten) are bold enough to let people know they are together and that they are the “guardians” of their 91-year-old great great grandmother, they could likely be split up. They were almost split before I met her but, luckily, Ryan was there to stick up for them.

I still can’t think about it without crying instantly. We have to find her and you can help.

I called my mom, devastated and disheartened. This little girl means SO much to me. I thought about her so much after meeting her. If I had the means to take these children as my own, I would in a second. I cried for over an hour uncontrollably.

Then, I got pissed.

I spent all of last night calling every shelter I could find the number too. The problem is that these children were never even registered at the shelter where we met them because it was a special needs shelter and they were not special needs. The nurses just let them slide in. How generous. L

As we called these shelters, I realized more and more that this situation and this disaster is in WAY worse shape than any of us thought. It’s in way worse shape than the media knows and WAY WAY worse shape than our President or Governor care to admit. There is NO central organization and no list of names. They just started a central database yesterday!

When I called Lake Charles (where a nurse said they may be), I was informed that the shelters there have not even started a list of the people they are holding. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!

This means that families, who are searching desperately for their next of kin – all that they have left in this world – will not be finding them any time soon. It is unacceptable and absolutely wrong.

Why are they being split up? Because there is no government “professionals” setting this up. A young man I know, a sophomore in college, was put in charge of starting the database of people at the fieldhouse?!?!?!?! Why aren’t their people trained to do this and why aren’t they here already?
Now, a list has been released saying approximately 20 kids have been displaced from their parents. That’s a blatant lie. I know of four myself! Plus, this displacement is happening to families with mentally ill and deathly ill relatives (I’ve met a man in this situation as well). These people, as of now, are lost and without help.

I must admit something here. Over the past few days, I have been so wrapped up in helping the local shelters and getting your donations that I have been ignoring the news. Now, I am listening and, again, I am outraged.

This is day SIX. That is over 144 hours after the storm and there are still THOUSANDS of people in New Orleans, many without food, some without medicine and all without hope.

Our government is failing us right now. Terribly. Where is the aide we need? Where are the soldiers? Where are the government officials? And, by all means, where is the money?

Around September 11th, we had the support of our citizens and our government. Action was taken immediately.

Now, when a disaster where it is likely that more people will die than did on September 11th, we have the support of our country (y’all have shown me that) but we do not have the support we need from our government. They are sending too little, too late.

I know of two emergency teams in Illinois alone, ready and willing to help, but they haven’t been asked. Why does New Orleans have to ask? Isn’t it obvious the help is needed. They shouldn’t have to wait. They should have been told to be here.

So, again, I need your help.

Please call, e-mail or write a letter to your Senators and Representatives – both State and Federal. In fact, do all three (call, e-mail and write). Go to these websites to get contact info: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml.

Tell them about LaShawna. Tell them about the devastation. Tell them that it is unacceptable and you won’t have it.

If we are the most powerful and giving nation in the world, why in the hell aren’t we saving our own people? It’s embarrassing. Our government should be ashamed. They better step up and soon. Every second they wait, more people are dying – it’s senseless.

We are liberating other countries and leaving our own to die. Again, UNACCEPTABLE.

President Bush is always saying we need to show patriotism and unity. Well, Mr. Bush, please show yours. We need to unite now. Show your patriotism now. This is your chance.

If your Senators and Representative want to speak with someone who has been here and they want to know more about how bad the disaster relief effort is really going or if they want to know what it really feels like to be with these people suffering, by all means, give them my phone number (225-334-4777 or 309-530-7767) or my email address (jtuck13@lsu.edu). I would be MORE than happy to tell them.

Please send them my letters as well. I have more students’ letters if you want those too.

Do this right now. Don’t wait. LaShawna needs to be found and these people need to be saved.

*For a little more insight into the problems, please listen to this radio interview with the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. He isn’t polite or politically correct. Thank God. Listen to the whole thing. The ending is intense to say the least.

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2005/09/02/wwl.nagin.intv.affl

We can and must fix this.

Jessie

*Also, a guy who received the first letter set up a blog for me. You can find all of my postings there as well. http://katrina-lsu.blogspot.com/

Day Three: The Ants Go Marching

2005-09-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday was, quite possibly, one of the best days of my entire 21-year-old life. The letter I sent to TEN people was now all over the country. Thousands of people have read it. I NEVER expected any of this. Donations are pouring in. My apartment is affectionately named “donation central.” I spent the ENTIRE day sending information to everyone who wanted to help.

To start my day off, when I first awoke, I found out that my hometown radio station (WBNQ) had started a drive to raise funds for the Red Cross. By 11 am, they had raised over $14,000. W-O-W!

I was beyond amazed. And the letters continued. My roommate, her boyfriend and I decided that the letter writing was too powerful not to share it with others. We created a letter asking all LSU students who are volunteering to record their experiences. It will be therapeutic to the students and allow their friends and family and THEIR friends and family and so on and so on to feel connected. We are collecting these letters and compiling them into a book for patients, workers, government officials and anyone who has donated and wants one. If you are interested, please let me know (jtuck13@lsu.edu). It will be a VERY powerful collection. We have already received letters and the impact has been phenomenal.

Later, in the evening, I received a letter from a man in Wisconsin. I am not even sure how he got my first letter but he was writing because he and his wife wanted to take in a family. A family with kids. A family of any size. A family in GREAT need. He offered to come and get them and pay for food and clothing until they got back on their feet. My heart stopped. Since receiving his note, I have shared this e-mail with many close friends. It instantly brings you to tears. The generosity of people is inspiring. Thank you Dr. Splinter. Please let me know if it works out.

To close out my evening (before volunteering began), I found out that my hometown radio station had not raised $14,000. They raised $65,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told every single person I talked to. I am SO proud. Now, students are ALL writing letters telling the stories that everyone needs to hear.

At midnight, we headed to the shelter. It was like walking into a different world. The place was dead quiet. Some of the lights were even out. Chairs weren’t packed and people were resting. It was surreal. Although, they kept telling us more people were on the way, no new patients arrived while we were there. I think this is a good sign. If there are more, we are more than ready to help them.

However, during the day, seven babies were found deserted under an overpass. I tried desperately to help with them but they were asleep in a makeshift nursery. Maybe tonight.

So…instead of helping patients last night, we unloaded 1,000 cots from a semi-trailer. It was tiring, time-consuming and brainless. And it was exactly what we needed. We all agreed that we needed time to just work – and work hard. We did. The time flew by and the night was a success.

As I was carrying these cots, I had a lot of time to think. As a college student in my senior year, people are (or I should say, were) always talking about what we are going to do when we graduate. People always say, “I want to be a lawyer, doctor, etc so I can make enough money to be comfortable.” Many don’t want the money for fancy cars, but more for financial security. I’ve said this very thing numerous times. Thursday, I realized this is an extremely misguided way of thinking.

There is NO security in money. The people in these shelters are rich and poor. Devastation like this does not discriminate. Instead, we should all be looking for security in life by building stronger relationships with our friends, our families and our communities. In the end, that is all we really have. Isn’t it?

Thank God for my community, my family and my friends (both old and the new ones who I have corresponded with over the past two day). Your letters and unending support has kept me going. You all reaffirm for me, each day, that despite the hate, violence and pain in this world….deep down, people really are good. Thank you.

My updates will continue.
God bless you.

With love,Jessie (jtuck13@lsu.edu)

Working 9 to 5 (actually make that 6)

2005-09-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I awoke to find that the letter I had sent just hours before was already spreading like wildfire (many of you received that). I had almost 30 emails by the time I got up at 10 am and I sent the letter at 3:30am. It was SUCH a wonderful thing to wake-up to.

During the day, I continued to respond to e-mails from across the country and made my roommate write a letter too. I knew she would get the same response I did. Since then, she has received emails from California to New York.

I answered emails for hours from people wanting to help/donate.

Wednesday night at 9 pm, we went back up to the shelter. Now it was more organized chaos instead of absolute mayhem like the night before. Still, there was much organization to be done and people were everywhere!

Again, we had responsibilities such as caring for patients, taking people to the bathroom, changing linens, moving beds, checking people in, getting them clothes, helping them shower, etc. There were so many patients that many would get skipped over by mistake. One woman checked in at 8:15 in the morning and was not helped until after 9 pm. The whole day, she just sat in the middle of the triage area waiting to be helped.

The chaos, unfortunately, leads to mistakes like this happening. It is not the fault of anyone – it’s just the enormity of people needing assistance. However, volunteers were there in full force and working relentlessly to make sure everyone’s needs were met, eventually.

One of the first people I met that night was Mr. Robert. He came in on a stretcher from a hospital that was evacuated in New Orleans. Mr. Robert had no records and could not speak well enough to tell us what was wrong. The shock of being rescued mixed with dehydration and trouble breathing made it a guessing game for the doctors. They just made their best judgment as to what was wrong and went from there.

I stayed with Mr. Robert for over an hour trying to get him settled. The entire time he was having a hard time catching his breath and he was curled up in a ball in pain. It was so frustrating to realize that this man, who in normal situations would be RUSHED help, was just ‘one of the crowd.’ He had to wait his turn like everyone else, because everyone else was in just as bad of a condition, if not worse.

Finally, he was hooked up to an IV and given medication for his breathing. Mr. Robert could talk again! It was amazing. The ability to cure is such a remarkable gift. Thank God for decisive and intelligent doctors. He told me that he felt much better and I even got a smile out of him. J

One of my most memorable encounters was with Ms. Diana. I was with her for so long on Wednesday night that I don’t even remember our first meeting to tell you about but she was brought into the shelter from the New Orleans Superdome. Before that, Ms. Diana and her family (husband, son and nephew) were trapped on top of their roof in the 9th Ward. A boat rescued them after a day of waiting. During their waiting period, they laid in the water filling their attic.

Ms. Diana said that the water filled their house in ten minutes. TEN MINUTES! They went from being ok to racing for the attic and then their roof. She said if they didn’t have an attic (many of their neighbors didn’t), they would not have survived (again, many neighbors didn’t). She said, as they waited, her husband was crying and shouting in desperation, fearful that he would not be able to save his own family. On the boat ride to safe ground, they saw bodies floating and heard children screaming for help. The stuff on TV is real. Ms. Diana has lived it.

Then Ms. Diana told me about being in the Superdome. She said how disgusted she was at the people tearing apart the building. Ms. Diana said they were “acting a fool” and it made her sick. There were rapes, murders, fights, and people tearing up the building. She said they were knocking over Coke machines and ripping up carpet. The bathrooms were not usable by the time she got there. Instead, people had to relieve themselves around the building or on themselves. She said the odor was so horrid that it will never leave her.

Ms. Diana has sickle cell anemia and so she was given a necklace saying she needed priority leaving the Superdome. After they sent everyone outside in the 100-degree heat, they waited TWO HOURS for a bus to take her to our shelter in Baton Rouge. During those two hours, many buses came but she said that the most able young men and women would force themselves on the buses causing chaos and leaving the most needy patients without a ride. It slowed down the whole process of loading the buses because police would have to move everyone back (with force) and then find who should really be loaded.

Ms. Diana had to pass out before she was ever allowed on a bus. This is a woman who had not had her medicine or eaten in two to three days and, instead of being helped immediately, she had to suffer in the sun. It makes me furious to think about. In desperation, people can become so selfish.

As for all of the looting going on, I must say that I and all of the patients I am helping are outraged. How, in a time when the world is trying to save you, can you be stealing plasma TVs and electronics? I understand food and water, but why things you can’t even use.

However, we must recognize that many of these people don’t know the help being sent to them. It is taking too long. The communication is not there. They are getting cabin fever of sorts. This, in NO way, is justifying their actions. They are dead wrong in causing this unnecessary violence and stealing from those who have nothing. But to come from neighborhoods where making it day to day was already hard, to being left “stranded” in a dome without bathrooms, food, adequate medical/police attention – with little hope for the future – no wonder they are desperate! This is cold, harsh reality of poverty being slapped in the face of our country. We needed a wakeup call. Let this be it.

My biggest fears are this: 1. That police will not be able to adequately identify the troublemakers and punish in the necessary manner. I am worried innocent people will be shot and the guilty will get away. 2. More importantly, I am fearful that people will get cynical. I’ve already heard stories from my college friends of people saying ignorantly, “I don’t want to help if they are all just a bunch of criminals.” Are you KIDDING ME?

They need us now more than ever. For every, 1 criminal there are 30 Ms. Dianas who are just as disgusted by their actions as we are. The help must continue. Please do not allow yourself to be jaded.

After hours of searching for them, I found Ms. Diana’s family (who had been separated from her). She was discharged and sent to another shelter that could house her family. Before she left, I gave her a blanket, toiletries, shoes, socks and a change of clothes. She also gave me something. Ms. Diana wrote me a poem about our evening together. Again, my emotions were uncontrollable. I will keep it for the rest of my life as a reminder of the impact volunteerism really can make on both those being served and those serving. This whole experience has changed my life – forever.

To close out the night, I helped a little girl named LaShawna shower and tucked her in to bed. LaShawna and her brother and sisters were going to be shipped to another shelter downtown (holding thousands of people) WITHOUT their grandmothers who were sick. It seems like sometimes people lose their sanity in trying to make decisions. They were going to leave three small children by themselves to care for themselves! Thankfully, two of my best guy friends found out and “laid down the law.” They were allowed to stay. Thank God.

I must say, the resiliency of children is amazing. After her shower, LaShawna was all smiles and wanted to be held before she went to sleep. I felt so needed. It was wonderful.

Wednesday night, I was also able to help a woman reunite with her family and help my home state’s (IL) emergency medical team set up a prepackaged 100 person hospital (from Carle in Champaign). What a night!

As we left, at 6 am, the sun was rising. I swear, my friends and I are becoming nocturnal J At this point, I had completely lost track of days.

Katrina....my first day

2005-09-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. First off, thank you so much to those who have written emails and called to make sure things are fine. For me, they are. I evacuated to my grandparent's house in Monroe (although Baton Rouge was not hit hard) and returned early Tuesday. Since I've been back, I've been working at the shelters on campus.

I know y'all can hear all about this on news but their stories of horror and devastation do not begin to do this storm and its effects justice.

Day One:
The PMAC, our basketball arena named after Pete Maravich, is currently serving as the hub of operations. This is where my day began. When I arrived, the minister from the local Baptist Collegiate Ministry was organizing volunteers. Though, even he wasn't sure where to begin.

Patients were arriving by bus, ambulance, van and even helicopter (on our school's track and field stadium).

There was a group of old men and women just sitting in wheelchairs outside. I soon discovered that they had been bused and rescued by helicopter from their nursing home in Metairie. By the time they were rescued, many were up to their shins in water and severely traumatized. A few died on arrival at the PMAC.

The rest were sitting outside, in 95-degree Louisiana heat, waiting to be placed on more buses which would take them to nursing homes throughout the state. The staff from the nursing home was dead on their feet but they worked relentlessly. This was true of the doctors, nurses, EMTs, police, volunteers. Everyone. They kept going merely because they had not stopped long enough to realize how tired they were and the work kept piling up.

I sat with my first friend of the day, Ms. Mary. She could not talk but we held hands and I asked questions and made conversation as if she could respond. It was all I knew to do but I wasn't sure it was doing any good. Then, finally they loaded Ms. Mary and her husband on a bus to leave. They had one Wal-Mart bag of clothes with them. That's it. As Ms. Mary was loaded on the bus, she would not let go of my hand. Eventually I had to leave and when I did, tears fell down her cheek. I lost my composure and I realized the absolute necessity of merely sitting and speaking with these people. They need our love and support.

I continued on with other nursing home patients and, one in particular, told me how the water had risen and her feet were cold. I went to get her new shoes and socks. There were none.

When I left to grab dinner and more clothes to donate, my roommate and I bought 30 pairs of socks.

After getting back, we walked around in our field house (housing all of the extremely sick patients who need immediate care and their families). Amy and I would look for those without socks or with shoes ruined by the water. Many would tell us about standing on their roof for over 24 hours or how they were rescued by a boat or the Coast Guard. I was meeting the people you see on CNN and Fox; the ones alive solely by the grace of God. I felt so humble with only socks to offer but you would have thought we were giving them a million dollars. It was exactly what they needed. We got smiles and thank yous and many "God Bless You”s.

Over the last 8 hours of my 10 hour shift, we delivered sandwiches, granola bars, whatever we had to people who hadn't eaten in three days. Three days! We helped find clothes for those who needed them. We fixed a wheelchair. We helped transfer people on stretchers from ambulances. I even helped in the early induction to Triage (I had to ask them about previous medical issues and allergies). We cleaned urine off of the floor. We changed adult diapers. Some of my guy friends even bathed an older paraplegic man who was covered in mud and not clothed. I have never had more respect and admiration for my fellow LSU Tigers. They were there in full force and ready to work. Even Les Miles and Big Baby worked.

Perhaps the part of the night that affected me most is this. As I would see friends there (and there were many), I would say hi and give them a hug and then ask the dreaded but necessary question. "How is your family? Your house?"

Almost 50% of the time, the response I got was, "The family is fine. Our house is completely gone. We lost everything." My friends – and I am SO proud to call them that – knew they had nothing and still, out of the goodness of their heart, came and worked hours and hours to help make those even more unfortunate than them just a little bit more comfortable. It truly was a sight to behold. I have never been more proud.

At 2:30 am this morning, we needed a break and some sleep. We called it a night and I am awake right now (3:30 am) with guilt. To walk out of that field house, knowing those people have not slept comfortably in nights or eaten enough to be past hunger haunts my brain. The devastation is so real it brings you to your knees, knowing these people need your help.

We'll all be back there tomorrow.

Please, PLEASE keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Lord knows, they need it.
Thanks for your kind notes and, please, take the time today to grateful for everything (your families, your homes, your jobs). So many have nothing right now.

Love,Jessie