Guest Book

Bird and some others....may I share a few things with you....perhaps share a different perspective. I get a call Saturday asking would I volunteer to triage patients from New Orleans once they arrive in Birmingham. Of course, I am ready. Arrive at AIG in Birmingham at 6AM. Unbelieveable, the readiness of the Air Force, ANG, Doctors, Nurses, Red Cross, Police, EMT's ....EVERYONE is ready. Dan, the hangar is set up like a mash Unit....pts triaged once they are carried off the C-130 and immediately assessed, and EMT's take them to hospital if needed, morgue if needed, or shelter if needed. We had everything, water, food, IV's, meds, a trauma team from Childrens, a trauma team from UAB, VA Hospital staff, and so forth. The willingness to help, the state of readiness was something to see Dan. Awsome. We were expecting 500 patients to come in during the day Sunday. Drilled twice during the wait just to make certain we were ready. Of course we are! One problem. No Patients. We waited for 11 hours and no flights. All this talent, all these resources, available but no one to treat. Why you ask. Security breech we were told. Heard stories about snipers shooting at planes. Heard stories about folks trying to get on the planes with drugs and weapons. Whatever the cause(s) are, I simply know for every hour a plane is delayed or a patient cannot get to hospital, people die. And it is no one's fault except the bad guys. Whoever they are, they are causing more folks to die. So we waited. Its frustrating to wait for patients when you want so badly to get them, tell them they are going to be taken care of, and cannot get to them because some security problems. Point is this; get the facts before you jump to conclusions. It is evident the situation is like a war zone in places, and security is a big problem which is slowing down the process. It aint politics... It aint red tape... It aint a lack of resources.... It aint race.... It aint a lack of money... It aint a lack of volunteers.... It aint a lack of gas to fill the plane... It's bullets. We will keep trying. I left Sunday evening, dont know if or when planes came in. Will try again to offer help to where it is needed. Its not over by a long shot...will need to get patients out of there I would guess for another 20 days. As more days go by, more otherwise healthy people will become sick, so the stream of patients will continue, until they are rescued, or, until no more living are found. Bird, what I am trying to say is that I think now volunteers are taking things into their own hands to offer help. In other words, folks are simply showing up offering help. I can say this for certain; Birmingham is WELL prepared. The local/state/federal officials are coordinating things well on their end. Its a task, but they appear to be doing an excellent job. And I suppose this is the case throughout man many other areas. But at ground Zero, the problems they are experiencing are overwhelming, and I think, at least in some cases, a percentage of the victims themselves create problems (i.e. looting/shooting/refusing to leave once they are approached/etc) which is making an already slow process that much more complicated. The word we were getting back is it is worse than Hell itself out there. In certain areas, we are told there are no survivors seen on roof tops. Basically, can you imagine have go by boat house to house to look for survivors? Cannot cover much ground that way. 50,000 dead? Looks more every day that number could be very real. Bird, I am not picking on you. I am just asking anyone to look at the big picture relative to the federal government's response. Honestly, given the circumstances, I dont know if we could have done much better. Always room for improvement, but at best, given the realities of getting in there, perhaps the rescue would have been cut down by what, 2-3 days? In the final analysis, what difference would that have made? It's hard to say. In my opinion, the looting and crime would have happened anyway to some extent. We all are frustrated and want to help good people. But please do not confuse your desire to see people helped into thinking "if only the government had done this or that". I can PROMISE you the government is made up of people just like you and I and want to dig in there and help just as badly as you or I. The desire is there. The logistics make for impossible situations. I thank God for our government and what it is doing to address the problems. If we had anything less, we would really be in a bad situation, as bad as it is now. And if you dont think it could have been any worse, you are fooling yourself. In the balancing act of saving lives, one the President stepped in, tens of thousands of lives were saved that otherwise would be dead now. Pray for the military and rescue teams. Pray for those who will have to go in and recover thousands of dead bodies. Pray for the leadership it is going to take to take cities all the way to the ground and rebuild them. Pray for those who at this moment are nearing death and cannot be helped.