I really should have posted this yesterday, but I have my office staff as my witnesses. I gave 5:1 odds that Bush doesn't mention Katrina or New Orleans in his State of the Union address, and 10:1 that he doesn't mention the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And I was right on both counts.
I realize that this week I seem to have gone from "Just Practicing" to "The Katrina Blog." I promise I will get back to more medicine-related stuff soon. But you must realize that:
(1) For those of us here in the Katrina Disaster Zone, this is really all-encompassing. It affects truly every aspect of life here, every minute of the day, everywhere you go. I'll stop writing about Katrina when things are back to normal. That should be in about another 10 years or so.
(2)...Or it might be never. Katrina has been a life-changing event, not only for the residents here, but for our entire country. Disaster response and recovery has become a prime issue for people everywhere, but we obviously still have a lot to learn. In fact, even though citizens have taken many lessons to heart, I'm not sure our government has learned any lessons yet, and seems doomed to repeat them when (and not IF) the next disaster strikes.
(3) Don't ask us to "get over it." We haven't asked New Yorkers to "get over" 9/11. 9/11 changed America's entire mindset and priorities--as it should have. 9/11 was a man-made disaster with profound repercussions. Yet Katrina, a natural disaster affecting far many more people, has already faded into memory, as Bush's speech last night illustrates so well.
(4) Finally, things are not chugging along smoothly down here, despite what y'all might think. I'd refer you to this enlightening article at Gulf Coast News.
And besides, it's my blog, so I can write what I want. Ideally its focus is on the intersection between Katrina and health care, but it's going to veer back and forth at times. Hopefully, wherever it goes, it will continue to hold your interest. And I promise that there's lots more of Katrina Story to tell.
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6 comments:
My new blogging friend, it's your blog. Write whatever you want. And don't worry about who's interested. Just write. They will come.
You don't have to post everyday. Some days there's nothing to say.
"Don't ask us to get over it." Damned right!
STAY MAD. And blog on.
My husband and I worked in New Orleans and St Bernard Parish as claim reps for Katrina - when the news was doing its "One Year Later" specials, I was only slightly surprised to see that the photos and videos they showed still matched my photos exactly. I even recognized some of the houses and neighborhoods they showed, and was amazed that they hadn't collapsed on their own yet. It's amazing how much hasn't been done since the storm.
All that to say that I do, as much as possible for someone not living there, understand what you mean. And please, keep writing about it! Make people remember!
I have no clue how I ever found your blog, but I haven't missed a day on popping on here and reading. As bittersweet as it is we have been intrigued by your Katrina experience. Being from Minnesota we only had the chance to see what the News Story's could cover. It broke our hearts to hear about the devistation. Thank you for sharing it with us. I look foward to reading more.
I'm so sorry for all the devistation.
I found my way over here from Flea, I think, a little while back. But I also read Dr Michael Hebert's blog and I found his Katrina story very interesting. Yours is a different story and just as interesting.
How can you not blog about it? It's a most devasting thing to have happened and can't ever be far from the mind of anyone who lived through it. It will take years to recover from it, both physically and psychologically.
I think it's admirable that you stayed on and I hope things get better for you and your family in the not too distant future.
I can't believe your government, with all it's resources and technical know how made such a mess of things. I hope they learned from it.
Regards
jmb
Hello, do you visit Dr. Hebert's blog? If not, you should. He was a physician in New Orleans (He lived In St. Bernard Parish)when Katrina struck. He writes alot about it. He even did a 7 or 8 days series of events leading up to and during Katrina. He also just did a post about Bush neglecting to mention Katrina the other night.
I don't know his exact blog address off the top of my head but if you can't find him he is linked on my sidebar.
I really enjoyed reading your blog.
Master of Clinical Pharmacy
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