I am a nurse who has just completed 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 "day care"?
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, felt threatened and feared for my personal safety in the shelter?
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It is sad that evacuees destroy the FEMA sites and turn them into more of a living hell than they ever would have been.
They destroyed the school showers in Bastrop and other places. Its sad.
The human condition will never cease to amaze me. We take more than we need, work less than we should, expect more to be done for us, sleep too much, drink too much, are addicted to any and everything, kill for sport, ect, ect........
One of the things that puzzles me are the well off ppl who, while sipping their martinis, send money to Africa because of the horrible images they see on tv. That is completely insane thinking to me. Look around. We have poverty in our own backyard. Why it makes some individuals feel better to send money through corrupt organizations so some hungry kid half way across the planet will get that handful of rice is beyond me. I understand the motive but seriously folks, wake up. There are several reasons "charitable" organizations request ONLY money as a donation. They can't skim off the top of a crate of canned goods or box of blankets.
Not to bash all charities because they do help but remember 9/11? They are still trying to track down the 100's of millions of missing $$$ stolen by individuals taking advantage of a bad situation. Insurance fraud, false life insurance claims, personal loans for vacations and even a yacht in one case.
The next time a bum begs for $1 while sitting on the side of the road tell him you'll give him $5 if he'll just rake your leaves or cut your grass. If he accepts, no worries. If he declines...............he's probably an ex-hurricane victim.
The next time a bum begs for $1 while sitting on the side of the road tell him you'll give him $5 if he'll just rake your leaves or cut your grass. If he accepts, no worries. If he declines...............he's probably an ex-hurricane victim.
I agree 110%. If you want to sit on your azz and starve be my guest. But start bi7chin and moaning about not getting a handout and you need to just starve.
Anyone out there can get mad at me if you want, but you know what...if you don't look at it like I do, you are prolly one of the ones sitting on your azz.
If you are, think about this. There is a homeless guy that floats around Monroe and comes by the shop from time to time. He rides an old beat-up pink bike and dumpster dives all day long. I see him all over town dumpster diving, he is the hardest working homeless person I have EVERY seen. From time to time he finds broken jewelry in the trash and brings it in, alot of the time its just plated but we check it. We buy what gold he finds...sometimes he get $30-40 out of it. That feeds him and he picks up cans and such. He is not exactly mentally stable, but I actually look up to that guy. He does what he is capable to survive.
I've worked along side some ppl who had the mentality that they were "owed" unemployment and took voluntary layoff each year so they can "cruise" by on the system for the summer. You work for a paycheck and get regular scheduled vaca, personal and sick time. Why is someone owed to get paid while being at home, able to work? To me unemployment insurance is just that, insurance. You lose your job, pick ya azz up and find another one. In the mean time the state will put food on the table and help you make ends meet.
On the bottom of the freeloading dumpster you'll find those breeding machines that have discovered a welfare increase with each kid. For crying out loud..................
I live in Bastrop, a small town where alot of evacs came. They stayed in the old Wal-Mart (which was turned into a shelter) where they got free food, free heath care, and also they got double food stamp cards.
After a few days staying, they started to complain about EVERYTHING and called it "third world conditions." There was an ad in the newspaper about it. They complained that the soup served did not have enough meat in it. They also complained about crap being all over the toilet seats. But according to them, they didn't do any of it.
They later complained about the EXTREMELY short walk to the bathrooms. Keep in mind, they are getting all of this for free.
Later on, they took the Evacs to my high school stadium so they could take a shower. They completely destroyed the showers there and also the locker rooms. I seen it, it wasn't pretty. But then again, they claimed they didn't do anything.
How can you knick-pick about everything when you are getting it for free. I wish I could just sit around and wait on my check from the guv'ment every month.
There are alot more issues that were created also. Around 40 of the evacs were arrested due to alcoholic crimes.
I'm just glad they are gone. Next time, the ignorant ones can stay down there.
