USVI-On-Line

If so, did you read the cover article in the Magazine?

for anyone who may not have...and has about 1/2 hour on their hands, have a read:
Strained by Katrina

It's about what went into triage-ing and evacuating...or not evacuating patients from a New Orleans hospital during Katrina. Not for the faint of heart.

Try to get through it without saying either "Oh God" or "Oh Jesus" a few times.

It's, simply put, rough stuff.

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Figures this Sunday was the first time in months that I didn't get the NYTs

Thanks for the link. I emailed it home to myself.

I have a friend from New Orleans (she married someone from my town) and it continues to be interesting to hear her perspective on the situation down there.

If you don't get the Times, this story is also available for free online at nytimes.com if you click on the Sunday magazine link on the left side of the homepage. I read it on Friday during lunch, which turned out to be a mistake. Heartbreaking stuff from every angle.

I remember hearing about this in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. If memory serves, these folks were in the basement of this hospital? And the hospital was over in the Tulane/Garden District area of the city? I will read the story - thanks pip.

Oh, and if you want a real interesting look at the immediate aftermath of Katrina, read the book "1 Dead in Attic", by Times Picayune writer Chris Rose...I picked it up at Luis Armstong International on my way out last November, and nearly finished it by the time I landed in Providence. Heartbreaking.

Here's the editorial review from Amazon:

1 Dead in Attic is a collection of stories by Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose, recounting the first four harrowing months of life in New Orleans after Katrina. It is a roller coaster ride of observations, commentary, emotions, tragedy and even humor - in a way that only Rose could find in a devastated wasteland.
They are stories of the dead and the living, stories of survivors and believers, stories of hope and despair. And stories about refrigerators.

With photographs by British photojournalist Charlie Varley, 1 Dead in Attic freeze frames New Orleans caught between an old era and a new, New Orleans in its most desperate time, as it struggled out of floodwaters and willed itself back to life in the autumn and early winter of 2005.

http://www.amazon.com/1-Dead-Attic-Chri ... 0977771504

I read "1 Dead in Attic" a couple of years ago after nothintolose sent it to me. A riveting book! After reading it, I visited New Orleans and nothintolose toured me through some of the devastated areas (didn't get to the 9th Ward, however) and it was spooky seeing those types of words sprayed on abandoned houses.

liamsaunt wrote:If you don't get the Times, this story is also available for free online at nytimes.com if you click on the Sunday magazine link on the left side of the homepage. I read it on Friday during lunch, which turned out to be a mistake. Heartbreaking stuff from every angle.

The link in my post will also get you there too.

I don't even know if I describe it as heartbreaking. It's horrible to even think of having to consider the options those medical professionals had (or didn't).

It was awful, but I can understand both sides of the story.

Pipinale, I don't know how I missed the link in your post! Well I do, my brain is foggy today. Sorry!

I see both sides too. That's what made the story so hard for me to read. It just seemed like an impossible situation for everyone involved.

I got really pissed off at all the elected people responsible at ALL levels all over again, especially after I had recently seen the "you're doing a heckofa job Brownie" video on TV recently. Embarrassing, reprehensible, and shameful.
This article and that book should be required reading for all of them. Maybe they would lose a nights sleep after reading it.
Nah - who am I kidding. That would require empathy and some sense of accountability.

jmq wrote:I got really pissed off at all the elected people responsible at ALL levels all over again, especially after I had recently seen the "you're doing a heckofa job Brownie" video on TV recently. Embarrassing, reprehensible, and shameful.
This article and that book should be required reading for all of them. Maybe they would lose a nights sleep after reading it.
Nah - who am I kidding. That would require empathy and some sense of accountability.

JMQ - of all places to make a political statement. Even I have enough *gravitas* to know that PIP put this here as more of a PSA...Here's something to read if you have the stomach for it...

I mean, even I wasn't going to talk about how it wasn't Bush who put all those people in the Dome and in the Convention Center...It wasn't him who called out the National Guard late (Blanco)...It wasn't Bush who kept 100 school busses parked in a lot...etc, etc.

His shining moment? Oh, Lord no. But that was a complete breakdown at every level of government. First and foremost poor leadership on the part of Mr. "Chocolate City" and Ms. Blanco.

Sox – my bad if it came off as some lame attempt to overtly politicize the article. My intent was to point out how a halfway competent response at the local, regional, and federal levels could’ve alleviated some of the suffering depicted in the article and the Brownie video just happens to be the poster child for the massive failure of those efforts. Fair or not, that video will always be juxtaposed with the images of suffering and destruction during every major anniversary of Katrina.
Of course the local and regional response is much more critical in the first 48-72 hours, and with this particular case, a huge amount of responsibility lay with the hospital administration itself. I mean, emergency backup generators near grade level? An EAP (Emergency Action Plan) that doesn’t contemplate loss of power? Yikes.

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jmq wrote:the Brownie video just happens to be the poster child for the massive failure of those efforts. Fair or not, that video will always be juxtaposed with the images of suffering and destruction during every major anniversary of Katrina.

Totally agree...Will not argue with that. And in retrospect, it is pretty clear that Brown was not the most qualified person for the job, and that's probably an understatement.

My apologies for jumping on you there.

Ah...no worries. At the risk of hijacking the thread, it's a sunny day, I'm doing well after some surgery last week, and Yanks are 7.5 up, so its hard to ruin my good mood. Jeter had a crazy August - hope he doesn’t wear down. And what a pleasure it is to watch Mark Teixeira day to day – he is the complete package.

And does anybody else besides me think that the Angels getting pitcher Scott Kazmir is a great move that may have significant playoff implications? I don’t have a feel for how the Sox play the Angels, but the Yanks always struggle with them already.

Oh, and by the way, as any Mets fan will tell you, good luck with Billy Wagner. Pray they dont have to use him in a big spot.

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