30dive Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 Below is an email sent by a friend from a friend at the front...New Orleans. I have removed his name to protect him from whatever, but it should be considered very relaible. Aug. 31, 2005 This is a dispatch from New Orleans from Dr. a pathologist who recently moved from Wilmington: Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2 p.m.. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today. Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, Miss., and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here. Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast. The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that is admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence. The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... There are (Infectious Disease) physicians in at this hotel attending an HIV confection. We have commandered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about seven doctors and PAs and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter. Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police excort. The looters had to be held back at gunpoint. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine. In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the the French Qarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many will be from the hotel, but many will not. We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent. The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fignters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army. In a sort of cliché way, this is an edifying experience. One is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care phyisican. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul-edifying experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuid will take. And the horror of so many dead people . PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MAY BE INTERSTED IN A DISPATCH from the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH
ch19079 Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 damn, i thaught there was a national gaurd presence there. i guess not.
UConn James Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 (edited) The biggest question to all of us is where is the National Guard. We hear jet fignters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army. 425231[/snapback] Where is the National Guard, he asks? ~50 percent of them are in Iraq. Sorry for how that may sound, but it's the truth. Edited September 1, 2005 by UConn James
dib Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 Where is the National Guard? About 50 percent of them are in Iraq. 425242[/snapback] and a bunch of them are from Louisiana
Tux of Borg Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 Where is the National Guard? 425242[/snapback] Homeless, deployed or spread sparingly over 3 states.
Wacka Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 If he is there, how did he get this e-mail out? Sounds like an urban legend to me. Did a search for HIV conferences in NO for August. Couldn't find any.
Dennis in NC Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 Where is the National Guard, he asks? ~50 percent of them are in Iraq. Sorry for how that may sound, but it's the truth. 425242[/snapback] Apparently, no thought was ever given that hurricane-prone states might need their guard troops kept at home during hurricane season.
stuckincincy Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 If he is there, how did he get this e-mail out? Sounds like an urban legend to me. Did a search for HIV conferences in NO for August. Couldn't find any. 425384[/snapback] Did you search under "Dr. Dean", "Dr. Carvill", "Dr. Ickes, "Dr. Durbin" etc.?
The Poojer Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 ok so he is writing at 2pm on tuesday, a mere 24 hours after the storm hit. the audacity that things are not fully organized yet! common man, lets give people a chance to get to the area, an area that is very difficult to get to. and another thing, not to pcik nits, but he is a doctor? he has terrible spelling Ritz Carleton French Qarter police excort.. I know it is cruel and insensitive of me to point out these things, but something does not sit right about this e-mail. flame away, and I will go back to my spongebob analogies
Fezmid Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 If he is there, how did he get this e-mail out? Sounds like an urban legend to me. Did a search for HIV conferences in NO for August. Couldn't find any. 425384[/snapback] Agreed. I'd send the message to Snopes.com and let them investigate. It's what they do CW
SDS Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 the hard and fast rule is that ANY email that ends with "send this to everyone you know" is a hoax. I've never seen that rule fail.
CoachChuckDickerson Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 If he is there, how did he get this e-mail out? Sounds like an urban legend to me. Did a search for HIV conferences in NO for August. Couldn't find any. 425384[/snapback] There was a HIV convention set to take place September 2nd. I doubt anybody would have showed up a week earlier considering a hurricane was coming....who knows.
Terry Tate Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 the hard and fast rule is that ANY email that ends with "send this to everyone you know" is a hoax. I've never seen that rule fail. And add the "sent from a friend of a friend" at the beginning, and I guess I can see your guys' point, but it didn't occur to me until it was brought up. But for all the bad news in the aftermath (looters), I don't doubt there are some heroes in the making down there too. There always are.
Fezmid Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 I just saw this message and thought I should let everyone know about it: the hard and fast rule is that ANY email that ends with "send this to everyone you know" is a hoax. I've never seen that rule fail. Please send this message to everyone so that they know about it! Oh wait.... CW
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 Hate to say it amidst all the trauma but it looks very much like an urban legend to me.
stevewin Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 the hard and fast rule is that ANY email that ends with "send this to everyone you know" is a hoax. I've never seen that rule fail. 425400[/snapback] That was my first thought after reading it this AM. I actually went to snopes right after but didn't see anything there (yet)
drnykterstein Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 Yeah I call fake. And who is this "they" that let him use the internet for a bit?
SouthernMan Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 the hard and fast rule is that ANY email that ends with "send this to everyone you know" is a hoax. I've never seen that rule fail. 425400[/snapback] Right. I just received some petition thingy from a friend (some crap about prayer in schools) asking to forward this to everyone I know. It amazes me that seemingly intelligent people like this friend are not yet wise to the tell-tale signs of these email scams. BTW - please copy, paste, and send this message to everyone you know.
Sound_n_Fury Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 http://www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/new_orleans/ "The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans has been temporarily closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. No decision can be made on a reopening date until the city of New Orleans is able to restore essential services to its residents, and permitting the assessment and repairs to the hotel – which were not major – to begin. Guests holding reservations will be contacted as soon as possible to assist with other arrangements or for future rebooking. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation."
JasoninMT Posted September 1, 2005 Posted September 1, 2005 I particularly like that he chose the Ritz for their wine list... as if they'd still be living it up.... Glad to see this sort of rumor kiboshed... No offense meant to 30dive who I'm sure had good intentions...
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