smirkingatyou

I went down the the huricane relief center again today. The center had been moved to a bigger building across town. It was practically empty. There were more volunteers than evacuees. You might be thinking "Isn't that a good thing? " I'd like to think so, but I'm afraid that people didn't know where to go. You see, we haven't gotten any of those busses of evacuees. Everyone we've seen drove themselves. The problem is that there was no administrative organization funnelling people to us. Someone said that churches and other aid groups had their own centers set up. I'm all for people helping out, but without organization, you're left with confusion. I'm worried that people simply didn't know where we'd moved.

Any group can pass out food, clothing, and sundry items. However, organizing and providing medical care is a bit more complicated. We had 2-4 physicians on site throughout the day, in addition to a handful of nurses and medical students. We were in contact with pharmacies throughout the city. We had people who understood the process of medical billing. I'm worried that our resources didn't reach the people who needed it most. For example, I saw a woman today with signs and symptoms of mild dehydration. Anyone can diagnose and treat that after reading a pamplet. However, she also had dangerously high blood pressure. Diagnosing and treating that is much more complicated.

Of course, I'm just speculating. Perhaps the need wasn't there. Perhaps other groups were just as prepared as we were. I hope whoever needed help got it.