Another National News Media Oversight....

FROM A FRIEND THANKS ALICE:




Subject: Fw: Another National News Media Oversight....


Found this on a board that was discussing the recent hurricanes. It's from
an RN that wrote a letter to her paper in Texas:

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, or package store to 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 incense 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