NMA Aids Hurricane Katrina Victims
September 7, 2005
Dear Colleague:
As African American physicians who live and work in the affected communities hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina, the nation is turning to us for guidance and support as the recovery continues. We are actively involved in the evolving participation of the NMA in this ongoing relief effort. By extension, this is an American crisis, and the NMA is addressing it as such.
To date, the NMA has several physicians: Drs. Rahn Bailey of Houston; Leonard Weather of New Orleans currently residing in Shreveport, LA; Roosevelt McCorvey of Montgomery, Alabama; Reginald Rigsby of Madison, Mississippi; Claudette Shepard of Memphis, Tennessee; Niva Lubin Johnson of Chicago, Illinois; Walter Faggett, D.C. Department of Health, Washington, DC; Ingrid Taylor of St. Louis, Missouri; Christopher Ervin of Atlanta, Georgia; and Wilma Wooten of San Diego, California among others who are serving as points of contact in these affected areas.
We are in the process of updating the NMA’s website www.nmanet.org with the latest information regarding our efforts. This portal, we hope, will become your destination of choice in the coming weeks. We will include relevant contact and resource information, as well as opportunities for volunteering and collaboration. Inquiries about NMA members’ involvement in this effort should be directed to our Membership department at (202) 347-1895 ext. 220 or to jwilson@nmanet.org. Media-related inquiries and suggestions should be directed to External Affairs, at (202) 347-1895, ext. 262 or to rstone@nmanet.org.
Finally, we are anxious to receive your feedback about how well the process is working and how we can improve. Please let us hear from you. We can be reached at 800-662-0554 and/or visit www.nmanet.org for regular updates of the hurricane relief efforts.
Below are updates from Dr. Bailey regarding his recent findings, experiences and needs in caring for the evacuees in Houston, TX. We appreciate his efforts and we will keep you apprised of the latest developments.
Sincerely,
Sandra L. Gadson, M.D.
President
September 2, 2005
Dear Fellow NMA members,
Many thanks for your phone calls and emails. I am honored to take lead role on coordinating efforts by way of a medical team of physicians to provide assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina not only in the Houston, Texas area but all across the United States. We are very concerned with the growing and compounding health issues not only in New Orleans and surrounding areas and states but for those victims transported to the Houston Area. The NMA is encouraging all members to please volunteer your time and give to the charities to help aid this national disaster. Taking lead role in combining our efforts to assist, I’m asking each of you to give of your time (1-2 weeks) working onsite at the Astrodome and shelters throughout the city. We are asking for all types of physicians. If you are not licensed in the State of Texas, you can contact the Harris County Medical Society at (713) 524-4267 or website www.hcms.org. The website gives information on how to obtain a provisional license as well as list information on insurance coverage for those with concerns on protection of malpractice lawsuits. The reason for the 45 day temporary license was intended for Louisiana (or Mississippi) physicians) to come over and care for their own patients. Other uses of that provision are being discouraged unfortunately. For MDs inside of Texas though, they can contact the TMA at 800-880-1300 and speak with Gayle Love.
For more information on insurance needs, you can call Texas Department of Insurance at (800) 252-3439 or visit their website at www.tdi.state.tx.us. Please assist by way of contacting any physicians you may know to help us in our joint efforts to better serve the Hurricane Katrina victims. They may contact me, my coordinator or any of the agencies that will be listed at the end of this letter. Your assistance doesn’t stop with aid by way of food, shelter, clothing, etc. We encourage each of you to speak with your pharmaceutical contacts regarding donating medical supplies and medicines. In your efforts to ask for donations by colleagues and pharmaceutical contacts, we must get a political response via our most powerful tool, which is our voice. We need all the states across the US to be challenged to adopt families. The City of Detroit adopted 500 families for which they are providing total support. All states must ban together and assist the multitude of displaced families. Also, we need to get our voice out to all African American radio and television stations and newspapers both local and national to become our media vehicle and aid our efforts to magnify the overall adversities and needs of African American victims.
It is my goal to send updated emails periodically of the NMA efforts to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina who are being housed in the Astrodome, Reliant Arena, and soon at the George R. Brown Convention Center as well as surrounding Red Cross agencies and shelters in Fort Bend, Baytown, and throughout the Houston area.
Our strong commitment to assist African American patients and support of our medical students exemplify the integrity for which the NMA was founded. The National Medical Association (NMA) was established in 1895 to address the specific needs of a culturally diverse population. We represent over 25,000 minority physicians in 24 specialty medical disciplines. The National Medical Association’s Scientific Assembly is acclaimed as the nation’s foremost forum on medical science and African American health.
Given all the devastation, we cannot forget our future medical students who were displaced from all the schools in New Orleans and surrounding areas with regards to books, tuition, and other college expenses that was once covered by scholarships that are now questionable. As Section Chair of Psychiatry, I have proposed that our physicians adopt a medical student. We must not let our future medical students have interrupted education or financial difficulties. Some of the students displaced from Xavier, Tulane, Loyola and other area medical schools within the New Orleans area have lost everything. Some students are not from Louisiana and were recruited and supported by school scholarships and mentor programs. Their backgrounds are diverse and families are poor and/or unable to help them with their medical education and needs.
I’m sure many of you have watched the news channels and are inundated with information of donations, relief efforts, horrific and touching rescue scenes and much more. My NMA Psychiatry Coordinator and Executive Assistant noted that her company and many other companies within the Houston area have donated amounts of $2 million and more to the Red Cross and other charities. Many Houstonians are opening their homes to assist. The last news broadcast mentioned that over 100,000 people from New Orleans have come to the Houston area. The City of Houston and other local area towns have tried their best to accommodate and are doing an outstanding job but we are not equipped to handle this multitude of victims for an extended period of time. As members of the NMA, we must meet our responsibilities as a medical organization in a medical crisis.
Many contribution websites are listed on the NMA website www.nmanet.org. I’ve listed more local websites below:
American Red Cross: www.redcross.org.
Houston Local Number: 713-313-5480
Salvation Army: www.salvationarmyusa.org
800-435-7669 (800 HELP NOW)
Texas Southern University (Admitting displaced students)
713-313-1059/713-313-7071
Houston Independent School District (For evacuee students)
713-892-6699
Texas A&M Galveston: 409-740-4448 or 877-322-4443
Harris County Housing Resource: 713-578-2055
FEMA: www.fema.gov
800-621-FEMA
Volunteer Houston: 713-965-0031
Employment for Evacuees: 1-888-469-5627
Food Stamps: 800-500-4266
(Displaced Families can get assistance in Houston area)
WIC: 800-942-3678
Sources for homes that are available: www.nola.com
To open your home to evacuees: www.openyourhome.com
Local news: www.abc13.com and www.click2Houston.com, www.KHOU.com and many more give more information.
Kindly forward this information to all your colleagues and other physicians in all specialty areas. When contacting us via phone or email, be sure to include email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses and any other contact information so we can update our database and add more physicians to our communication updates. Please be in prayer for everyone. Thank you for your continued support and assistance in getting the word out and for your many donations and ongoing contributions.
Sunday September 4, 2005
I want to let all of my NMA colleagues know what is truly going on here regarding health care for the Hurricane Katrina victims from New Orleans currently housed in the Astrodome and Reliant Arena.
The stories I’m going to share are indicative to the many stories that was heard over and over again given by victims in dire need of medical treatment and comfort.
My first patient was an African American woman who cried uncontrollably the whole night. I did my best to sedate her but within an hour she was back up crying. Her story was about her lost 13-year-old daughter. She said that as the water kept rising in their home, her daughter was with her. However, when they got out of the house, her daughter along with others floated away in the raging waters and lost in the night. She doesn’t know if her daughter is alive or dead. Another African American woman lost both her daughter’s ages 6 and 16 the same way. She literally screamed to the top of her lungs much of the night in grief.
A 50-year-old African American man, Vietnam Veteran, had virtually the same story. Water was rising in the house so Monday night they slept in the attic. The next day with the water continuing to rise, they were told to evacuate to the Superdome. They did. They stayed from Tuesday to Thursday in the most deplorable conditions. At the Superdome, he reported three (3) girls were raped, men getting physically assaulted, and people walking through human waste down the hallway that leads onto the floor of the Superdome. People were sleeping in this same waste filled hallway because they had nowhere else to go and nowhere to sleep. His 22-year-old son lived through the flood but was shot at the Superdome. He said it was total ciaos everywhere you turned. No running water, no air, too many people, no security, no food, and nothing to drink. He told me the police in New Orleans were taking food and water from nearby stores and selling it to them. After the officers left the stores, other people went in to find food and water and were thought to be looters. How could this be? Where was the city government? Where is the law enforcement? Where was the local disaster relief groups located in the city? One would think if you were t! old to evacuate to a specific location, that the location would be prepared to accommodate as many as the location could hold and at the very least have bare necessities of water, food, place to use the restroom and somewhere to sleep. The Superdome had 40,000-50,000 people that couldn’t get out and had no means of transportation to evacuate the city. Most are poor African Americans. As I looked into our infamous Astrodome, I saw rows and rows of cots for people to rest, portable restrooms, food and water, clothing areas, designated shower areas for men and women, and medical areas to receive treatments.
I treated many opiate dependent patients. They had chills, cramps, sweating, diarrhea, and other symptoms associated with withdrawals. Many of these patients were on methadone and had been on it for years. By now they are four to five days without medications and are in withdrawals. Something that made me frown was to hear that it was good for these patients to go through these symptoms. How inconsiderate! It is bad medicine to ignore any healthcare conditions with real symptoms if they were caused from dependent medicines or not. We as physicians took an oath to help everyone from all walks of life in need of medical treatment regardless of ethnicity, background, religion, etc.
One dependent male told me his heartfelt story. Again, same beginning of rising water in their home. The water was 3-4 ft. on the first floor and rising by the minute. He grabbed his elderly grandmother and put her on his back then left the house wading in deep water and swam down to the St. Bernard Parish High School. They got up on the second floor where it was safe. He continued going back for others that were located on his street using a raft to help move them and their belongings safely to the school.
Three small boys came to me with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). One of the boys was shivering like a leaf. His mother told me that he had seen a man get shot in the Superdome. The mother went on to tell of all the children crying with no milk, formula and diapers. Some women had children that didn’t belong to them as they were displaced from their families.
These heartfelt stories go on and on. The loud screams and crying were so mentally exhausting as we tried our best to comfort the patients.
Something positive did come out of the evening. I must report that the medical services team of physicians was very organized in helping to treat the victims. I applaud the massive response from the pharmaceutical companies for supplying such neuroscience medications like Strattera, Concerta, Cymbalta, Prozac and many more. These were actual medicines and not samples. The kind humanitarian effort of the pharmaceutical companies is greatly appreciated by the medical staff in efforts to administer appropriate medical care to these victims.
In conclusion, I cannot accept nor understand our inability to respond to rudimentary and basic necessities like transportation, food and clothing, law enforcement, etc. This is totally pathetic, ridiculous, intolerable, and unacceptable coming from people in positions that should be prepared for these kinds of crisis and were caught off guard. How can FEMA, a national government agency to aid in such disasters, allow these victims to go over three (3) or more days without the basic human necessities?
We cannot sit idle by and see this happen again. We must be prepared at all times to take care of our own.
Rahn K. Bailey, M.D., F.A.P.A.
Board Certified, General and Forensic Psychiatry
Chairman, NMA Psychiatry Section
And
Holly L. Blackmon
NMA Psychiatry Section Coordinator
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