Hurricane update

Family and Friends,

The situation here at LSU has unfortunately worsened. First off let me say that I feel completely safe and taken care of by the LSU administration. While LSU did get hit by the storm it did not sustain alot of physical damage, well, not compared to New Orleans. However because of this Baton Rouge has now become the point of command for operations going into New Orleans (NOLA). Thousands of NOLA residents have been evacuated to Baton Rouge, many of which are now roaming the campus and streets. Yesterday morning I awoke to an email from Chancellor Sean O'Keefe stating that we should stay inside due to ,"civil unrest." A couple of my roommates have taken off for fear that it will get worse however I am confident in my security here.

LSU Maddox field house and LSU's Basketball Arena (PMAC) have now become makeshift hospitals. Up till yesterday I'd done just about everything I could to help without actually having to volunteer, I'd donated money, I'd donated a blankets etc...because I had a very real fear of what I might see by volunteering down at the PMAC. Eventually that feeling settled and I literally forced myself down there. Once I got down there it was complete pandemonium. I walked in and quickly asked a nurse where the volunteer check-in was. I checked in and was given an armband and put in the "volunteer pool" so people could easily identify us when they needed a volunteer. So the first guy comes up and I'm not about to sit in this 'pool' all day, so I go with him and he explains the job to me (to replace him as a volunteer).

My job ended up working in triage for the constant flow of patients. Boy! let me tell you, that was right in the middle of everything, and I can tell you I honestly haven't felt any emotion as strong as they were yesterday. It was my job to basically follow the doctor when he picked a patient coming in and ask them questions of they could respond and start a chart for them. The first woman I did was so old and frail, she kept begging me for a blanket as I wheeled her down into the PMAC (which was also part of my job). It was complete shock for a Midwest boy who has been quite sheltered towards suffering in his life. I actually saw someone die for the first time in front of me, which was horrible, but it was eerily acceptable, so many people were coming to the hospital. As part of the triage you never knew when you were going to get slammed by another bus of sick elderly NOLA refugees. Who'd have thought that in America? Refugees.

One woman I helped was writing the names of the people she was missing on the back of a piece of paper. There were seven names and DOBs in all, one including her one year old infant.

One thing I couldn't get over was the complete and utter disorganization. I mean it was understandable that the triage area I was in was out of control but you could tell that there were holes everywhere in the help. I had this one guy who when the doctor was done he [doctor] told me to rip up the paper and take him around back to the shelter pickup (the PMAC is only a hospital, and he apparently was healthy enough), this guy was born in 1926, he was so frail and I could tell even two hours out in that heat and he would have to be in the PMAC. So I wheeled him around back (outside) in his wheelchair and the only person I could find was this police officer who looked about 20 yrs old. I asked him how I could check the man in and he says, "There is no check in, it's only chaos back here, the Red Cross was picking up patients but we haven't seen them for quite a while," and he said all that as I gazed upon the rows upon rows of elderly people and crying babies (this sounds like a bad fiction novel, but I doubt any words could truly describe the suffering). So I wasn't just going to leave the man there, so I turn him around and wheel him back and ask a triage nurse and she tells me that I just have to sit him back there and there is no other way. So that's what I did, on the way I picked up some jambalaya and water for him. The disorganization is horrible, I worked there for 6 hours and in the later part of my shift I had both a doctor and FEMA person ask me what to do, I know that they hadn't been introduced to the method of triage we were using, but doesn't it seem like they should have a little more of an orientation than a non-med volunteer?

All in all it's quite crazy here, I'll leave you with a few links to some stories I thought were good as well and accurately portray the situation...I have so many more stories and things to tell but I don't want to risk writing a novel on y'all.

Christopher

Links:
DONATE! (Redcross) - I have as a poor college student and you should too!
Listen to the mayor of New Orleans
A great blog about Katrina