[islandgal]

Email I received:

Before everyone thinks I am a terrible, prejudiced,horrible person, just wanted to send a copy of the letter
I sent to the Times editors and Bill O'Reilly.
Please pray that Hurricane Ike will NOT come to Louisiana .......Sherri

Dear Editor,

I am a nurse who has just completed volunteer working
approximately 120 hours as the clinic director in a Hurricane
Gustav evacuation shelter in Shreveport , Louisiana over the
last 7 days. I would love to see someone look at the evacuee
situation from a new perspective. Local and national news channels
have covered the evacuation and "horrible" conditions the evacuees
had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.

True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation
and the shelters need some modification. At any point, does anyone
address the responsibility (or irresponsibility) of the evacuees?

Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone,
charger, cigarettes and lighter
but forget their child's insulin?
Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus,
walks immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate
free refills on all medicines for which they cannot provide a
prescription or current bottle (most of which are narcotics)?

Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot
afford a $3 copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in
the shelter yet they can take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart,
buy 5 bottles of Vodka, and return to consume them secretly
in the shelter?

Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming evacuees
so as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer
staff and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol
and weapons being brought into the shelter?

Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub emesis
from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby,
watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from
the pillow to comfort her own son?
Why does it insense me to hear a man say "I ain't goin' home
'til I get my FEMA check" when I would love to just go home
and see my daughters who I have only seen 3 times this week?

Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must find
a way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay
while the FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire
free medications under the disaster rules?
Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter
is paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during
the day as the shelter provides a "daycare"?

Have government entitlements created this mentality and am I
facilitating it with my work?
Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian if I hesitate
to work at the next shelter because I have worked for 7 days being
called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing
for my personal safety in the shelter?

Exhausted and battered,

Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN





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