Two New Orleans hospitals begging AP for help!

They say they can't even get through to the Mayor's and Governor's offices. They are running out of medication, food and water, and fleeing to higher floors to avoid looters. They feel like they have been abandoned. They are begging AP for help!

AP Story

Why the hell aren't we dropping food and water to these large populations?


Doctors at two desperately crippled hospitals in New Orleans called The Associated Press Thursday morning pleading for rescue, saying they were nearly out of food and power and had been forced to move patients to higher floors to escape looters.

We have been trying to call the mayor’s office, we have been trying to call the governor’s office ... we have tried to use any inside pressure we can. We are turning to you. Please help us,” said Dr. Norman McSwain, chief of trauma surgery at Charity Hospital, the largest of two public hospitals.

Charity is across the street from Tulane University Medical Center, a private facility that has almost completed evacuating more than 1,000 patients and family members, he said.

No such public resources are available for Charity, which has about 250 patients, or University Hospital several blocks away, which has about 110 patients.


Sounds like the poor patients get screwed while the better off were whisked away.

much better, don't you know?

in one of the NO hospitals. The nurse sounded very, very deparate and talked about how dire their condition was. What really struck me is when Zahn asked her when they expected to be rescued (rediculous question) the nurse said "that's why we contacted you (CNN) to see if we can get help."

UN-FRICKING-BELIEVABLE

They all deserve the Medal of Honor.

That's extreme. I couldn't imagine a situation so dire that the staff at a hospital would be so short of water and food that they'd take saline/glucose IV's and use them to treat staffers. Incredible.

"when do you expect to be rescued"
to a desperate nurse who is begging for help

again - there are no words

words: DIMWITTED, TOTALLY SELF ABSORBED, CORPORATE MEDIA WHORE.

The ditzy airhead couldn't even do a fair job of broadcasting the Olympics years ago ... so now she's an anchor with her own program... doing serious interviews. Ridiculous!

:argh: !!!!!!

I've been hearing about Charity Hospital and the others in NO for the last two days. The staff have been calling out (thank god they can even do that much, but they are RUNNING OUT OF TIME they keep screaming out) TRYING to get someone to rescue them or at least drop supplies.

This just does NOT make any sense at all to me. I can understand a chopper pilot and medics aboard it not wanting to land amidst gunfire from the helipad. It's exactly the same, in that instance, as what happens when troops try to airlift into a zone, and the LZ is "hot" rather than "cold." SOLDIERS DO IT because they have to, they are armed, to some degree protected by doorgunners, and they are ORDERED to, it's their JOB. Medics and civilian chopper pilots are in no way prepared for or able to face this sort of violence and danger to their own lives in order to render aid, even to desperate people at a hospital.

I'm pretty sure I've heard the same doctor's voice several times from Charity Hospital -- once in my car on NPR, if I was correct in recognizing that voice. I never heard so much intelligent patience in a man's voice that was also filled with frustration beyond endurance.

This is a catastrophe within a catastrophe, and how the authorities can have overlooked hospitals and at the very LEAST dropping in food and water is just beyond my understanding.

On CNN RIGHT NOW, they are about to speak to a doctor at Charity ... will watch and listen. Just after JACK CAFFERTY came on with a preview of his "report" and BLASTED the federal government in all its capacities for having BUNGLED THIS RELIEF EFFORT in the worst possible way! GO GET EM JACK! FIRST TIME I've heard ANYONE in the mainstream media SAY IT. More from him later too....

~VV

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that they were giving each other IV's to maintain their strength; that they had lost 2 patients already. She was almost sobbing on the phone.

Too sad and unbelievable for words. I'm at a loss here.

Let the real journalists do the interviewing.

Someone had to say it... :-)

I hope as the end nears for these poor people, that the drs do what they can to make their passing easier and less painful.

there are 1200 in Charity hospital

Or power. Or water.

no one is leaving the stadium now and armed men scared off an airlifting helicopter

WHERE'S THE CAVALRY?

:(

when this is over, there is going to be some hell to pay. This is the kind of shit that can lead to revolutions.

It's about TIME..... really it's way PAST time, but then it may take something like this to WAKE PEOPLE UP!!!!

Here is your fine Republican President, I say to those who put him in power -- here's the brilliant leader you foisted on everyone. Here is how he behaves, how he RESPONDS. HOW HE CARES.

Any moron could have foreseem this catastrophe -- and many regular folks warned of it. The NG are not where they should be -- and think what they will come HOME to..... if they come home alive at all.

This country needs to get ANGRY.

~VV

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didn't happen'

Inhofe Tulsa office told me to 'watch FOX b/c there's lots of false information out there'

and it should have happened late last week.

I realize that Bush de-funded work on shoring up the leevees to withstand an Catergory 5 hurricane. But that should have been all the more reason why governor should have had a complete and comprehensive plan all written down and coordinated with the mayor AND the Feds. All of this improvising as they go along is what's killing people.

:mad:
rocknation

many of the patients weren't moved because moving could kill them.

After September 11th, the hospitals were told to move their backup generators to the third floor or higher in case of a terrorist attack on the levees...they didn't.

A whole lot of room for finger pointing, from the President's office on down to the local police department.

Colonel just dispatched a team of SF to hospital to remedy the "situation" after reports of armed civilians in hospital.

Do you have a link or source for that?

And welcome to DU :hi:

Listening to LA National Gaurd scanner

Full bird Colonel came over and said "I am dispaching a team of SF to Hospital, armed civilians reported on lower floors"

According to scanner talk...

Staggering negligence. It's just unbelievable that the richest country on the planet could be so ineffective in a time of crisis.

I'm calling for the resignation of the entire Bush government. NOW.

Bring in the United Nations until new elections can be scheduled.

The UN doesn't have a good record of running places like Sierra Leone. I'll take our own incompetent, corrupt politicians over theirs anyday.

,...than this greedy, war-mongering administration which has NO RECORD WHATSOEVER of humanitarian success,...quite the contrary!!!

of inviting some more unelected autocrats in to replace the ones we already have in place.

The UN has some success coordinating disaster relief, but a lot of the effort was sweated out by US agencies, including the military (ie, the Tsunami).

who is a ER Resident (physician), in that hospital (Charity). She stayed behind since she had no family.

We spoke to her last Tues. PM, and whatever your hearing, its probably worse. I pray for her daily, and have tried to volunteer, but apparently physician volunteer's aren't needed -- or they don't know what to do with them.

God help us all.

WHY THE FUCK ISN'T IT HAPPENING?!?!?!!!! :mad:

they don't even know how miserably this is being handled. George put inexperienced people in charge of an agency that needs a high degree of experience and managerial skills. Then he essentially began the de-funding.

I think this is grounds for impeachment. Among a host of others.

...there is no national guard, there is no homeland security..there is no federal government, its a shell...we are on our own.

much like aid to Africa, it would never each the intended needy...

And what exactly do you think is the parallel between New Orleans and African politics?

Why do you think people are starving in Africa while dictators who sell out their countries to western corporate interests concentrate wealth and power?

Someone just shot the pilot of a ferry boat moving people.

Time to start going medival on some of these shitheads.

And I think you meant "Medieval"

Just reporting what I am hearing over the LANG scanner for the benefit of those that cannot log onto it.

The thing to do, when we get past all this horror, is to throw the electronic voting machines into the levees as landfill (our 'Boston Harbor'). The malfeasance, greed and criminality are unfriggingbelievable!

I have also heard that now there are snipers that are shooting at people outside of the hopital... honesly what is the reason behind this !!

There are people, i.e. snipers, that are just evil and need to have close intimate contact w/ a .308.

the chopper crew should go rescue his family. I haven't heard any details other than that one on this, but it has been my thinking that the people who BENEFIT -- on a very basic, street level, survival level -- from the chaos and lack of law and order obviously would want to keep the chaotic conditions going. The looters who are not just getting food and water and clothing to survive, the ones who STOLE the guns and probably stole drugs from pharmacies too (I did hear one news report that said that). For them, if the "jungle" environment around them right now continues, they will keep on being the power in the neighborhoods, robbing and raping or whatever they choose to do.

That's the only thing I can figure for why anyone would shoot at rescuers and relief workers....

~VV

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There has not been a single confirmation of any such incidents.

This is the most pathetic cover-your-ass excuse I have ever heard.

There are well over a 1200 people still in the
Tenet Memorial Hospital on Napoleon in New Orleans.
Predictions are that flood waters will continue to
rise to another 9 feet tonight. Latest info is that
they have started helicoptering out people, but very
small numbers, less than 100 since 1 pm. Giving you
this update because we may have no electricity before
long. Our phone numbers are 504.897.4531 and
504.897.4530, we cannot call out. Feel free to call
us or give numbers to media to call us. They are
estimating that it may take several days to evacuate
these people - water electricity food security all
will be gone by then. Please help by notifying the
press and the government. People are hoping that
friends around the country can help out. Thanks for
giving people hope. Peace, Bill Quigley

To many charaties as I could think of. Maybe someone with some power will do something. I can't believe how slow help is to get to these people!

Watching news feed of a Huey with a red and white cross emblem on front and sides ... sitting on the airport tarmac somewhere ... giving me flashbacks of "DUSTOFFS" during the Vietnam War....

And no, I wasn't there, not incountry, just know countless Namvets who were and that looks like an identical Huey to what flew in to medevac their wounded out.

I hope someone who can DO something can use those phone numbers you posted!

I feel so helpless ... just helpless and angry.

~VV

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and maddening to see NOTHING being done.
Just totally fucking bizarre and disturbing at this lack of coordinated response by the various Gov't agencies.

Amy Goodman reported on this situation this morning

BILL QUIGLEY: There are 1,300 people in this hospital, a couple hundred of whom are patients, hundreds of family members of the patients, hundreds of staff, and everything -- little babies, little children of staff members and who came in. The only way you get people to work in a hurricane in New Orleans is that you tell them you can come in and bring your whole family with you. So, people brought their children, and we had little babies, we’ve got parents. We got that sort of stuff. It’s about 1,300 people here in this hospital.

At this point now, there's about five-plus feet of water outside the hospital, and they have lost power in the main stairwells. Power is reduced throughout the entire building. We don't have air conditioning, and the building is sealed, so you can’t open to get -- you know, even a breeze, so it's pretty hot in here. On the upper floors, they don't have enough water pressure to be able to use the toilets and that. So we have areas that don't have electricity, areas that don't have any water pressure. And the water is rising, and shortly, when the water gets high enough, we will lose the electricity that we do have and the internal communication abilities that we have.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/01/146255

Bill is an Activist/Lawyer and very dedicated to the Peace Movement.

The water level in NO now equals that of Pontchartrain. Should be no, I repeat no, increase in water levels, unless there is a big thunderstorm, which is not predicted. I certainly do not know about the accuracy of the rest of this email, and, if true, will add them to my prayers for our precious sister city.

BTW, in Lafayette, our Cajun Dome is now housing around 7,000 evacuees, and in our Blackham Coliseum, evacuees with animals are being housed. I do not know the capacity of either place, but should be able to find out from the Red Cross or City of Lafayette.

We have an increase of probably around 20,000 people in our city, and everything seems to be fine, with the exception of heavier traffic, which reminds me of the "oil boom days" before the great bust in 1983. We had most of our oil company offices relocate to New Orleans then. Ironic that now, a lot of them will be coming home to Lafayette, at least in all probability.

and it is 100% factual and accurate. Repeat- not from today and 100 % reality. At present I am uncertain what is happening.
On Amy Goodmans show this morning she reported on this exact situation.

Here's More:
AMY GOODMAN: We'll go now to Bill Quigley, again this was speaking on Tuesday night from a major hospital in New Orleans, beginning by describing the situation at the hospital.

BILL QUIGLEY: There are 1,300 people in this hospital, a couple hundred of whom are patients, hundreds of family members of the patients, hundreds of staff, and everything -- little babies, little children of staff members and who came in. The only way you get people to work in a hurricane in New Orleans is that you tell them you can come in and bring your whole family with you. So, people brought their children, and we had little babies, we’ve got parents. We got that sort of stuff. It’s about 1,300 people here in this hospital.

At this point now, there's about five-plus feet of water outside the hospital, and they have lost power in the main stairwells. Power is reduced throughout the entire building. We don't have air conditioning, and the building is sealed, so you can’t open to get -- you know, even a breeze, so it's pretty hot in here. On the upper floors, they don't have enough water pressure to be able to use the toilets and that. So we have areas that don't have electricity, areas that don't have any water pressure. And the water is rising, and shortly, when the water gets high enough, we will lose the electricity that we do have and the internal communication abilities that we have.

<>

They have people strapped to pallets and taped to a pallet. And what they're doing, because we don't have elevators is knocked a hole in the wall, and they're handing people on these pallets taped over -- holding them -- handing them through the wall, a hole in the wall, putting people into the back of a pickup truck, two people at a time, taped into this thing, put a nurse in the back of the pickup truck and then they drive up eight flights of the parking lot to the roof where some people then put a couple of them on the helicopters. And they're taking them off from there, but there's still – I mean, there's still a lot of very sick people. We have some people that have to get to Houston to the M.D. Anderson place over there. And they're telling us at this point they don't even know how that would happen.

AMY GOODMAN: And that was Bill Quigley, Professor -- Law Professor at Loyola University in the Memorial Hospital, Tenant, in Louisiana, there with his wife who is an oncology nurse and helping people there. Again, yesterday sent a text message out, and this is the last we have heard of him from the hospital. This is almost 20 hours after we had spoken, which said, “No water, sick, no heat. Call somebody for help.”

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/01/146255

I mean, can they seal off floors from above? It seems to me that if 'looters' can get into the lower floors, they can get to the upper floors. Perhaps they are trying to get away from flood waters?