Update- August 10, 2006
Laura Lowe from Mountain Top Community Church took almost 100 diabetic kits to the Coastal Family Clinics in MS and 9 boxes of coat hangers (collected by our good friends at Cousins Properties) and 4 boxes of formula to Gulf port Baptist Church POD. We also sent down another pallet of canned dogfood from GBHS and a pallet of dry food from Cousins Properties. Thanks yall!!
Thanks to Rob Wolfe, property manger for the Frank Nelson Building, volunteers in Waveland will be doing a lot of mowing. He donated a very nice mower. Susan Durham, Exec. Director of the YWCA also gave $100! Since Rob donated the mower, Susan's donation was used to ship diabetic kits to the Hurricane Rita area. Whooo Hoooo!
Genie Pyrlik and I will be taking off to go back down to the MS coast next week. We will be taking diabetic kits, other supplies and meeting with the medical clinics and PODs (Points of Distribution) to help them get on the CAT dbase which will be a valuable tool for them now and an essential tool should they have to go through another disaster. On Wednesday, we will give a presentation to a staff meeting of all the Coastal Family Health Clinics. That's eleven clinics in one shot! Yipes!
A very special thanks to Kinkos on Southside for donating a huge poster explaining the database that I will take with me!
If you would like to sponsor the gas money for this trip, please make your tax deductible check payable to ONB/Katrina and send it to CAP, 1801 Third Ave. N., Birmingham, AL 35203. Your generosity is most appreciated :-) Thanks again to Gail Daw (Advanced Automotive) and Jennifer Kilburn for sponsoring the May trip!
Medical Volunteers!! We are now collecting names and email address for medical personnel willing to volunteer in a disaster. Particularly need docs and Nurse Practitioners as either one can dispense medication and keep a clinic open. If you would like to get on the list or help find others to get on the list or put out flyers in a hospital, please contact us at capbham@aol.com.
Update August 21, 2006
What a trip! We went to 14 sites in 3 days. Not much difference in the general condition of things since our trip in May. However, there did seem to be more businesses open in BSL. Still a land of FEMA trailers. Clinics reported a lot of stress due to the anniversary coming up. To see pictures check out the August Update under Hurricane Relief on our
New and Improved Website!!
www.capisdowntown.com
(A HUGE thanks to Jimsey with Magic City Moments, Inc. for building this informative
web site with incredible patience)
Here’s the run down of where we went:
Day One
ProDisee Pantry, Spanish Fort, AL- they are preparing to be first responders (they have made up 1500 food boxes so far) and have a nice warehouse space near Mobile.
Operation Love Thy Neighbor, Moss Point, MS—brought them a sample of the coolers we can get from UAB (you have to be in the first responder “business” to get excited about coolers) and picked up the hospital defibrillator (they just need an AED -the automatic no brainer type). We also did database training. We also collected some water which Dave and Gregg said was from a “good day.” Drinkable according to the city but I say- No thank you!
D’Iberville Free Clinic, D’Iberville, MS—Gave them the defibrillator, trained them on the database and got their needs entered. All the clinics are in need of meds.
An Outreach of Love, Moss Point, MS—Met with them for training and suggested they help Operation Love Thy Neighbor with fundraising which they so desperately need.
Hands On Network, Biloxi, MS – Our last stop of the day! Showed the database to their IT person and got invited to dinner. It was inspiring to see all the young people from around the country volunteering their time. Got to hear reports on what each team did and how they handled their day to day jobs to keep the place running. Everyone was happy to sweat all day in the heat, but the kids were hiding under the table when it came to volunteering for KP duty!! Photo on web site shows evening entertainment after dinner. The balconies are lined with sleeping pads.
We crashed at the Cross Point Baptist Church in Gulfport and got a good start in the morning.
Day Two
Volunteers of America Free Clinic, Gulfport, MS – This clinic is open two days a week by two retired doctors. We brought them 50-60 diabetic kits, 3 Tupperware containers and trained them on the database. She emailed me a thanks that evening saying that 10 minutes after we left, they had a patient who needed a kit. J
Bethel Lutheran Free Clinic, Biloxi, MS—They had a room full of patients, but squeezed us in for a quick training session. Got a list of their urgent needs and entered them on the database for them this weekend.
Gulfport Baptist Church, Gulfport, MS –Brought them about 10 Tupperware containers. They are set up in a particularly needy neighborhood. Did a brief training on the database.
Gulfport Memorial Hospital, Gulfport, MS – Training on the database.
Village Free Clinic, Pass Christian, MS – This clinic was temporarily shut down due to the lack of a doctor or nurse practitioner. However it is located in the Americorps Tent Village and we did some database training with them. Talked to the folks who are sponsoring the clinic and they seemed confident that the clinic will reopen soon.
BSL Memorial Hospital, Bay St. Louis, MS – This stop felt a bit like a reunion. The hospital is almost completely restored—a long way from our first visit when only the ER was open and offices were outside! Hal (head honcho) and Angie (head nurse) talked about the day of the hurricane and showed us video from the security cameras. They were basically in a fish tank! They could see fish!We could see the water rushing in and a very professional staff calmly getting 30 patients up to the second floor. Interesting fact: the water came in on the front side of the hurricane, but was sucked out when the winds reversed after the eye passed. Oh yeah, we did database training here too.
City of Bay St. Louis, Bay St. Louis, MS – Trained a representative of the City who also explained how the City distributed donations by lottery. She also talked a bit about the upcoming anniversary ceremonies. Sounded like there is going to be a huge press presence.
Dinner with Kathleen Johnson, long-term volunteer. Kathleen is working out of Waveland City Hall coordinating teams of volunteer workers. She has also been working in New Orleans on the weekends for pay so she can continue volunteering during the week. We spent a very windy night in an air-conditioned Quonset hut at Pathfinder Mission next to the train tracks. The photo on the web site for Pathfinder Mission is of the storage sheds that have built for people of Hancock County. You see them everywhere!
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