Okay friends - I could use a little help here...
In regards to the hurricane victims in the south, I have now twice dealt with people in town who have commented to me about people from that area coming to Michigan. One person was a construction worker in our house who was working on a project for us, the other was one of our neighbors who is older and has been very kind to us. The gist of the comments each time has been about the "blacks coming to Bay City." The construction guy said something like, "Now they're bringing a bunch of those blacks here. Oh, I got nothing against them, but I don't know why they have to bring them here." And the neighbor, commenting that a house in the area was a HUD house said, "They're going to be bringing hurricane victims here. There'll be blacks in the neighborhood." (At last look, our neighborhood is mostly white, but not without some variety of race/ethnicity.)
Honestly, at first I am so shocked by their comments I don't know what to say. Then all these thoughts go rushing through my head about weighing out the value of the relationship and what would be the "right" response in a situation like this. My gut feeling is to tell them to go f*ck themselves and that I'd sooner have a "black" neighbor than a white racist in my home or next door. But, I bite my tongue. Should I respond? What should my response be? Is the relationship that important that I should be swallowing the bile of this racism? Can anything I say really even make a difference? Do I need to make a difference or just be true to myself? Is there a difference between these two?
At the very least, I can change the subject a bit by commenting that I have family who live in New Orleans. That seems to be enough to disarm the situation for them to think about that, or, in the case of the neighbor, I just looked at him, and looked at other neighbors sitting there as well. The silence was thick, but I still am not satisfied it was enough. Grabbing him by the throat, I suppose, would have been too much. But it is now what I envision myself doing. I don't think I am so mad at him as much I am at myself for not saying/doing something more.
But, what?
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Friday, September 09, 2005
A Letter from New Orleans
My "little" sister is back in New Orleans, doing what she does best: helping people and, no doubt, saving lives. The text below is her most recent e-mail to family and friends, sent September 6, 2005. For those of you who don't know, she makes reference to being specialized in her medical field - she is a cancer surgeon - making emergency medical care a challenging task for her, but one she has readily stepped up to. My respect and admiration to her and all her colleagues at this time, as always before, but now even more so.
[Letter from the Good Doctor in New Orleans]
I can't thank you all enough for all of the love and support you have given me through all of this. I have been truly blessed, more than I thought I ever deserved. I could not have made it though this past week without all of your encouragement. Here is my update.
I returned back to Louisiana on the 2nd (thank you again Susan and your beautiful family for taking such great care of me during a VERY difficult time). I have been back at my hospital in New Orleans now for the past few days, relieving my partner who was here for 6 days through the worst of it, where I am staying 24 hours as we are not allowed to return to our homes. Arriving back here was the greatest sense of relief that I have felt in days. I must truly be a missionary doctor, because it was killing me to be away. When I imagined that I travel to other countries to care for their sick, and now the most needy were in my own city, it was very difficult to be away. Don't worry about safety, as here at the hospital it is simply not an issue. We are very well protected.
The hospital is in better shape than any other in town and only 2 others are opened. We got only some roof damage at the hospital but no flooding. The electricity and water were out for 48 hours during the storm so there is a lot of work to do to make it a fully functioning Hospital again, but we are able to add back day by day. We live everything, and every decision day to day now. Our emergency room is picking up, as initially they did not want to send patients here because they wanted them all out of the city. However, our hospital "Ochsner Clinic" is located on the border of Orleans and Jefferson Parish, and if you have been watching the news at all you know that Jefferson Parish residents were allowed back into the city temporarily today, so things are getting busier. And yes, there are many who never left and in Jefferson Parish do have some electricity and running water so they are unlikely to leave at all.
Tomorrow we are opening up clinic for any problems with patients from all of the specialties and we really don't know what to expect. We want people to know that we are here for them, so if they need help they will receive it. I do whatever I can to help out. Being so specialized as I am, in a crisis you learn a lot of new skills to help. I am now a pharmacy technician and have been filling hundreds of prescriptions every day, as I believe we are the only functioning pharmacy in town. The search and rescue workers come to us to renew their medicines.
I made it out of the hospital briefly today to go check on my house for the first time since the storm. I am truly blessed. Other than some branches in my yard and a screen from a window and a few shingles (no telling who those belong to) my house was absolutely fine. I cleaned out my fridge and freezer, with hardly any horrible stench. For all of you who have harassed me for years for having such an empty fridge, to you I say HA! It served me very well this past week.
We did see a lot of destruction from water in the city. Thousands of trees down. Very few people around. They are still evacuating slowly. I live in Orleans Parish which was the worst hit and the most severe water. I really wasn't supposed to be out, but a medical badge can get you a lot in a natural disaster. There were trucks and trucks of military troops, all armed, all over the city. I felt very safe (did I mention I was in a Land Rover, with another crazy female surgeon, with a Rotweiler in the back and a handgun in the glove box? No it wasn’t mine, but it was there, just in case!), as I'm sure the military and law enforcement outnumber civilians 10 to 1 now.
I will not be able to live in my house for awhile. How long? No one knows. Again, day by day. No electricity or water and a lot of work to be done in the city. On my days off from the hospital, I am to go to Baton Rouge. They will put us up in doctors’ homes there if we have no place to stay. I have a friend there who said I could stay with him, but unfortunately I haven't been able to reach him for 3 days now. I'll keep working on that. They say that the navy hospital ship with 1000 beds may dock on the river by Ochsner to house all of the employees so we can have a place to live without commuting and living in the hospital while we are here. Cruise lines have also volunteered their ships.
What will come of all of that and in what time frame, Who knows? Day by day. Right now I have a job I love, a place to sleep, 3 meals a day and all of you. What more could I ask for? I don't worry so much about tomorrow right now. I am so blessed for all I have today.
Am I going to leave New Orleans? Absolutely not. I had a deep love for this city and its people before all of this that was only strengthened by this unfortunate tragedy. I would never desert them now. I look forward to being part of the recovery of this amazing place. This past week has changed me, and all of us that live here, forever. I pray that it will continue to strengthen me and remind me and the rest of the world what is truly important in life. I ask you to continue to pray for this city and all of those taking care of us, and that you all will too appreciate how blessed you are and how precious life is.
Please read [Anne Rice’s] letter from yesterday's New York Times: “Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans?” It could not describe my feelings for New Orleans and this tragedy any more eloquently (yes Denise, I had to look up the spelling on that word).
I'm sure there is so much more to tell, but that will have to be it for now.
I'm tired and need some sleep.
Oh, one more thing, if any of you work for corporations (or you money bags out there) that can donate money, my employer has a Hurricane Relief Fund to support our employees who have lost their homes to try to provide them with housing and get them back here if possible and stabilize their jobs and lives. They have been absolutely amazing though all of this as an employer and I would love to see all of these great health care professionals who were not as fortunate as I was be able to come back and help heal this city and its people. A letter addressing this and providing the information is [inserted below]. Please pass this along if anyone asks how they can help.
I love you all. God Bless you all.
Good night and God Bless.
[Letter from Ochsner Hospital, New Orleans]
This is a sad and humbling day for the staff of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, and for the people of our great city of New Orleans. We at Ochsner are grateful to report countless acts of courage, incredible dedication and generosity by our staff, patients and families, and the citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana and this wonderful country. What we have directly witnessed reaffirms our faith in humanity. It is unfortunate that the thoughtless acts of a few have diminished the great work of so many citizens from all walks of life.
Ochsner hospital remained open throughout this ordeal and continues to serve our community. The word written by employees with red garbage bags on the top of the parking deck for all to see speaks volumes: OPEN. This was our message to the city when all other communications failed.
This feat is the product of incredibly dedicated, talented and selfless employees. I am deeply grateful to be associated with such an extraordinary group of people.
Approximately 5,000 of our 7,000 employees are victims of Hurricane Katrina. Many of our people have severely damaged homes, or are completely homeless.
In response to many requests to offer support, Ochsner has instituted the Ochsner Clinic Foundation Hurricane Relief Fund to benefit our employees and organization, both of whom have both suffered greatly in this disaster. Donations can be made payable to Ochsner Clinic Foundation and specified for the Ochsner Hurricane Relief Fund at the following address:
Ochsner Clinic Foundation - Dept. #118
P.O. Box 4869
Houston, TX 77210-4869
Funds may also be wired to the following location:
Hibernia National Bank
5718 Westheimer, Suite 600
Houston, TX 77057
ABA #113024915
Account #0623336615
Reference: Ochsner Clinic Foundation Hurricane Relief
Ochsner is a 510(c)3 non-profit organization, founded on patient care, research and education. We are one of the country’s largest non–university based academic centers and directly care for patients throughout southeast Louisiana. We continue our mission, and will serve and rebuild New Orleans, with the help of our employees and our extended family.
Sincerely,
Patrick Quinlan, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Ochsner Clinic Foundation
[Letter from the Good Doctor in New Orleans]
I can't thank you all enough for all of the love and support you have given me through all of this. I have been truly blessed, more than I thought I ever deserved. I could not have made it though this past week without all of your encouragement. Here is my update.
I returned back to Louisiana on the 2nd (thank you again Susan and your beautiful family for taking such great care of me during a VERY difficult time). I have been back at my hospital in New Orleans now for the past few days, relieving my partner who was here for 6 days through the worst of it, where I am staying 24 hours as we are not allowed to return to our homes. Arriving back here was the greatest sense of relief that I have felt in days. I must truly be a missionary doctor, because it was killing me to be away. When I imagined that I travel to other countries to care for their sick, and now the most needy were in my own city, it was very difficult to be away. Don't worry about safety, as here at the hospital it is simply not an issue. We are very well protected.
The hospital is in better shape than any other in town and only 2 others are opened. We got only some roof damage at the hospital but no flooding. The electricity and water were out for 48 hours during the storm so there is a lot of work to do to make it a fully functioning Hospital again, but we are able to add back day by day. We live everything, and every decision day to day now. Our emergency room is picking up, as initially they did not want to send patients here because they wanted them all out of the city. However, our hospital "Ochsner Clinic" is located on the border of Orleans and Jefferson Parish, and if you have been watching the news at all you know that Jefferson Parish residents were allowed back into the city temporarily today, so things are getting busier. And yes, there are many who never left and in Jefferson Parish do have some electricity and running water so they are unlikely to leave at all.
Tomorrow we are opening up clinic for any problems with patients from all of the specialties and we really don't know what to expect. We want people to know that we are here for them, so if they need help they will receive it. I do whatever I can to help out. Being so specialized as I am, in a crisis you learn a lot of new skills to help. I am now a pharmacy technician and have been filling hundreds of prescriptions every day, as I believe we are the only functioning pharmacy in town. The search and rescue workers come to us to renew their medicines.
I made it out of the hospital briefly today to go check on my house for the first time since the storm. I am truly blessed. Other than some branches in my yard and a screen from a window and a few shingles (no telling who those belong to) my house was absolutely fine. I cleaned out my fridge and freezer, with hardly any horrible stench. For all of you who have harassed me for years for having such an empty fridge, to you I say HA! It served me very well this past week.
We did see a lot of destruction from water in the city. Thousands of trees down. Very few people around. They are still evacuating slowly. I live in Orleans Parish which was the worst hit and the most severe water. I really wasn't supposed to be out, but a medical badge can get you a lot in a natural disaster. There were trucks and trucks of military troops, all armed, all over the city. I felt very safe (did I mention I was in a Land Rover, with another crazy female surgeon, with a Rotweiler in the back and a handgun in the glove box? No it wasn’t mine, but it was there, just in case!), as I'm sure the military and law enforcement outnumber civilians 10 to 1 now.
I will not be able to live in my house for awhile. How long? No one knows. Again, day by day. No electricity or water and a lot of work to be done in the city. On my days off from the hospital, I am to go to Baton Rouge. They will put us up in doctors’ homes there if we have no place to stay. I have a friend there who said I could stay with him, but unfortunately I haven't been able to reach him for 3 days now. I'll keep working on that. They say that the navy hospital ship with 1000 beds may dock on the river by Ochsner to house all of the employees so we can have a place to live without commuting and living in the hospital while we are here. Cruise lines have also volunteered their ships.
What will come of all of that and in what time frame, Who knows? Day by day. Right now I have a job I love, a place to sleep, 3 meals a day and all of you. What more could I ask for? I don't worry so much about tomorrow right now. I am so blessed for all I have today.
Am I going to leave New Orleans? Absolutely not. I had a deep love for this city and its people before all of this that was only strengthened by this unfortunate tragedy. I would never desert them now. I look forward to being part of the recovery of this amazing place. This past week has changed me, and all of us that live here, forever. I pray that it will continue to strengthen me and remind me and the rest of the world what is truly important in life. I ask you to continue to pray for this city and all of those taking care of us, and that you all will too appreciate how blessed you are and how precious life is.
Please read [Anne Rice’s] letter from yesterday's New York Times: “Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans?” It could not describe my feelings for New Orleans and this tragedy any more eloquently (yes Denise, I had to look up the spelling on that word).
I'm sure there is so much more to tell, but that will have to be it for now.
I'm tired and need some sleep.
Oh, one more thing, if any of you work for corporations (or you money bags out there) that can donate money, my employer has a Hurricane Relief Fund to support our employees who have lost their homes to try to provide them with housing and get them back here if possible and stabilize their jobs and lives. They have been absolutely amazing though all of this as an employer and I would love to see all of these great health care professionals who were not as fortunate as I was be able to come back and help heal this city and its people. A letter addressing this and providing the information is [inserted below]. Please pass this along if anyone asks how they can help.
I love you all. God Bless you all.
Good night and God Bless.
[Letter from Ochsner Hospital, New Orleans]
This is a sad and humbling day for the staff of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, and for the people of our great city of New Orleans. We at Ochsner are grateful to report countless acts of courage, incredible dedication and generosity by our staff, patients and families, and the citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana and this wonderful country. What we have directly witnessed reaffirms our faith in humanity. It is unfortunate that the thoughtless acts of a few have diminished the great work of so many citizens from all walks of life.
Ochsner hospital remained open throughout this ordeal and continues to serve our community. The word written by employees with red garbage bags on the top of the parking deck for all to see speaks volumes: OPEN. This was our message to the city when all other communications failed.
This feat is the product of incredibly dedicated, talented and selfless employees. I am deeply grateful to be associated with such an extraordinary group of people.
Approximately 5,000 of our 7,000 employees are victims of Hurricane Katrina. Many of our people have severely damaged homes, or are completely homeless.
In response to many requests to offer support, Ochsner has instituted the Ochsner Clinic Foundation Hurricane Relief Fund to benefit our employees and organization, both of whom have both suffered greatly in this disaster. Donations can be made payable to Ochsner Clinic Foundation and specified for the Ochsner Hurricane Relief Fund at the following address:
Ochsner Clinic Foundation - Dept. #118
P.O. Box 4869
Houston, TX 77210-4869
Funds may also be wired to the following location:
Hibernia National Bank
5718 Westheimer, Suite 600
Houston, TX 77057
ABA #113024915
Account #0623336615
Reference: Ochsner Clinic Foundation Hurricane Relief
Ochsner is a 510(c)3 non-profit organization, founded on patient care, research and education. We are one of the country’s largest non–university based academic centers and directly care for patients throughout southeast Louisiana. We continue our mission, and will serve and rebuild New Orleans, with the help of our employees and our extended family.
Sincerely,
Patrick Quinlan, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Ochsner Clinic Foundation
Sunday, September 04, 2005
How the News Does Spin its Own Hurricane
I have been watching the news non-stop every chance I get since Sunday. I have a sister who lives in New Orleans - she's okay - but that will be another blog. In watching and listening to the radio as much as I have, I can't help but comment.
Like all stories, news reporters sensationalize all they can. I don't mean this disrespectfully to the people of New Orleans, as a matter of fact, I mean just the opposite. I think the story of their misery needed to be sensationalized. It needed every bit of camera play and emotion that could be pulled from it, because I do believe the government was slow to respond. I don't think officials understood the scope or seriousness or just the pure disgusting-ness of the situation. Maybe if we could transmit smell over the tv, that would have helped. But to have the director of FEMA say, three days after the hurricane and after we are all witnessing the vile living conditions of people at the Convention Center, that he wasn't aware of any situation at the Convention Center - ? Doesn't he have a tv? Hasn't he even seen general news coverage of the event? Listened to the radio? No one he works with could have seen this and mentioned it to him? So, apparently, there was not enough sensationalizing going on if this was the response from government officials. Today, the mayor of New Orleans said the president decided to come down and see the destruction for himself because he didn't feel his own people were telling him enough of the story. I don't think he watches the news either.
Where I think sensationalism went to the negative? Focusing on the looting and negative behaviors of the people of New Orleans. Yes, there are morons in every community. If my hometown of sugar and spice were to be thrown into a destructive situation of life-threatening crisis, I can guarantee there will be those people who will be mean, hurt others, take advantage of others and think of no one but themselves. (As a matter of fact, I know some people who get elected to office and receive promotions for this type of behavior.) But these were not the majority of people in New Orleans. The majority of people were waiting - and in my opinion very patiently - for the promised buses to arrive. They waited for days. Some died. Some may have broken into stores for water or food or clean clothes. Wouldn't you? I sure as hell would. I saw some "looted" stores on the news today, right down on Canal Street. They were still full of material goods that could be worth a lot of money. But the water was gone. Food was gone. Some of the clothes were gone - some clothes still hung neatly on the racks. So what we saw on the news- the looters - in the first hours of the disaster, were those bad people who would be bad no matter what and were taking advantage of what they thought was a temporary situation. The guy who had a huge bag of clothes and shoes, no doubt he left those behind a day later, just wishing he had a sandwich.
But these looting scenes are the ones we saw again and again. And no doubt what the president was told was happening in New Orleans. And why a hundred buses sat outside the city for two days on hold, because it wasn't "safe" to go into New Orleans without an armed guard on every bus. For the love of whatever god you believe in, if the people had seen one hundred buses coming, why on earth would anyone have to fear their relief, their gratitude, their restored hope...
The news did us right and did us wrong on this story of Katrina and the people of New Orleans. As always. We as intelligent viewers have to be better about remembering that the news means to spin a story, and we have to sort through that to make our own decisions about what we believe, and maybe what we want to believe in spite what we are shown, about the inherent nature of human beings. In the days to come, I know time and again the overwhelming agreement will be that those people (not refugees, please!), those human beings in crisis needed help or at the very least, needed to know help was coming, long before they got it. Minutes matter in such situations, and each day is an eternity. No one will argue they needed more than they got and sooner than they got it. The question will be, Why didn't they get it? And that will no doubt be the drawn out, hashed over question that will take our nation all the way through the next election.
Like all stories, news reporters sensationalize all they can. I don't mean this disrespectfully to the people of New Orleans, as a matter of fact, I mean just the opposite. I think the story of their misery needed to be sensationalized. It needed every bit of camera play and emotion that could be pulled from it, because I do believe the government was slow to respond. I don't think officials understood the scope or seriousness or just the pure disgusting-ness of the situation. Maybe if we could transmit smell over the tv, that would have helped. But to have the director of FEMA say, three days after the hurricane and after we are all witnessing the vile living conditions of people at the Convention Center, that he wasn't aware of any situation at the Convention Center - ? Doesn't he have a tv? Hasn't he even seen general news coverage of the event? Listened to the radio? No one he works with could have seen this and mentioned it to him? So, apparently, there was not enough sensationalizing going on if this was the response from government officials. Today, the mayor of New Orleans said the president decided to come down and see the destruction for himself because he didn't feel his own people were telling him enough of the story. I don't think he watches the news either.
Where I think sensationalism went to the negative? Focusing on the looting and negative behaviors of the people of New Orleans. Yes, there are morons in every community. If my hometown of sugar and spice were to be thrown into a destructive situation of life-threatening crisis, I can guarantee there will be those people who will be mean, hurt others, take advantage of others and think of no one but themselves. (As a matter of fact, I know some people who get elected to office and receive promotions for this type of behavior.) But these were not the majority of people in New Orleans. The majority of people were waiting - and in my opinion very patiently - for the promised buses to arrive. They waited for days. Some died. Some may have broken into stores for water or food or clean clothes. Wouldn't you? I sure as hell would. I saw some "looted" stores on the news today, right down on Canal Street. They were still full of material goods that could be worth a lot of money. But the water was gone. Food was gone. Some of the clothes were gone - some clothes still hung neatly on the racks. So what we saw on the news- the looters - in the first hours of the disaster, were those bad people who would be bad no matter what and were taking advantage of what they thought was a temporary situation. The guy who had a huge bag of clothes and shoes, no doubt he left those behind a day later, just wishing he had a sandwich.
But these looting scenes are the ones we saw again and again. And no doubt what the president was told was happening in New Orleans. And why a hundred buses sat outside the city for two days on hold, because it wasn't "safe" to go into New Orleans without an armed guard on every bus. For the love of whatever god you believe in, if the people had seen one hundred buses coming, why on earth would anyone have to fear their relief, their gratitude, their restored hope...
The news did us right and did us wrong on this story of Katrina and the people of New Orleans. As always. We as intelligent viewers have to be better about remembering that the news means to spin a story, and we have to sort through that to make our own decisions about what we believe, and maybe what we want to believe in spite what we are shown, about the inherent nature of human beings. In the days to come, I know time and again the overwhelming agreement will be that those people (not refugees, please!), those human beings in crisis needed help or at the very least, needed to know help was coming, long before they got it. Minutes matter in such situations, and each day is an eternity. No one will argue they needed more than they got and sooner than they got it. The question will be, Why didn't they get it? And that will no doubt be the drawn out, hashed over question that will take our nation all the way through the next election.
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