|
September 4, 2008
Little Rock --What do you do if you have to leave home between appointments to get your regularly scheduled kidney dialysis done? What if you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and have to leave without your breathing machine and your medication? Suppose you are about to deliver a baby and the hurricane won’t wait?
These are the kinds of real life issues the evacuees from the storm on the gulf coast faced this week as they made their way to the 49 shelters that had been set up for them here in Arkansas by the churches, counties, state and national agencies that opened their arms to receive them. As with Katrina and Rita three years ago, Arkansas residents joined hands and provided for those in need.
Some of the evacuees are coming back to the same shelters they visited before and are seeing old friends they made three years ago. Tonia Baker, Mississippi County Health Unit Administrator for the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) said, “We had many return here that were Katrina Evacuees and they said that they wouldn’t think of going anywhere else because of the caring of our community. We all just worked together—the Red Cross Staff and the staff at the Osceola Community Center are real heroes.”
Two dialysis patients were among those who arrived in Crittenden County at the West Memphis First Baptist Church Shelter last Saturday. They both were due to be dialyzed on the following Monday (Labor Day). The nephrology group in town were contacted and told of the situation and with the direction of the doctors the kidney dialysis center opened and provided dialysis for the patients. The local ambulance service transported the patients to and from dialysis.
The Crittenden County shelter was also able to help the COPD patient find help. A member of the church congregation that owned a medical supply company loaned the shelter a breathing machine. The ADH county health officer called in the prescription for the albuterol and normal saline for the machine and the shelter was ready to meet the need.
“Because WIC waivers were provided to mothers with babies, some who couldn’t bring everything with them when they left were especially grateful,” Baker continued. “Their money was very low due to fuel costs just to get here.”
Callers to the toll-free hotline (1-800-651-3493) can get information on health and recovery from floods and hurricane damage. Information on relief efforts and recovery fact sheets are posted on the ADH website at http://www.healthyarkansas.com/hurricane_gustav.htm
### |
