PAN!PAN!PAN!PAN!PAN!PAN!PAN!

SAlogo, originally uploaded by lzp.

-courtesy of www.sailinganarchy.com-


Read this from an Anarchist who is also a doctor. Do what you can. - Ed

To all of the family at SA -

I am in Hammond, LA, about 45 miles NE of New Orleans
serving in a hospital that has been created in an abandoned National Guard armory building. I was due to be gone from the medical center at a conference in the UK and take some vacation. Since I was not scheduled at the hospital I was asked to volunteer with about 25 other members of the staff and come to the hurricane area to provide care. I decided to go.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I could not have ever magined the complete and utter devastation that I see around me. I cannot even begin to convey the despair of these poor people. It is beyond the ability to comprehend. While I know intelltucally
that some years from now, things will be normal, right now, I can’t see how it can possibly be done. Last night we sat around the one television and watched the Fox reporter Shepard Smith, whose is in New Orleans, talking to Bill O'Reilly. Oreilly kept talking about processes and infrastructure and Shepard all but started telling him to shut up. There is no way to paint this as anything other than the most horrific nightmare that you have ever experienced. We went on
a convoy as far as St James parish to receive and transport back medical evacuees from the Superdome. People are wandering the roads asking for food and water. It is heart breaking to see this when you can’t do anything. People are mad, sad, and desperate.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give whatever you can to help
out. Our team has been working with the Salvation Army. Prior to this, the sum total of my experience with them has been dropping off old clothes at the truck in the back of Los Gatos High School and the Christmas bell ringers. I now understand how little I know about these dudes. They are unreal. They seem to have the logistics down to a science and make every
dollar count twice. We needed a high def graphics display to read some imaging studies. I don’t know how in the hell they did it, but 9 hours later, there was one sitting in our common area. PLEASE give anything you can you guys. The dollars are buying the meds that we desperately need. Also please say a prayer to whatever God you believe in that these
people can have a normal life back.

Michael (aka NorCalMan)