Check out the comments about the buses. No mention of school buses, or the requirement to buses evac in the city's evac plan.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/
Superdome's Condition Leaves Mark on Doctor
Sunday, Sept. 5, 2005 9:44 p.m.
By Richard Meek
Staff writer
Perhaps it's the stench that Dr. Kevin Stephens will remember the most.
It was a stench that was a gumbo of human waste, sweat, and despair.
For four days, Stephens, the Health Department director in New Orleans, administered to the sick in the Superdome, his primary patients being those in wheelchairs and nonambulatory. He watched conditions deteriorate from one of calmness on the eve of Hurricane Katrina crippling the city, to one of frustration by the time he was evacuated to the adjacent New Orleans Arena on Wednesday. He was taken to Baton Rouge on Thursday.
"I would not have even asked my dog to live in there," Stephens said Sunday in the shadows of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at LSU, where the conditions inside were infinitely more stable than those he left behind in New Orleans.
"On Sunday, everything was fine, we had electricity, water and air conditioning," Stephens said. "On Monday, we lost electricity. By Tuesday the water was coming in through the holes in the roof, the electricity and air conditioning were off and toilets were beginning to back up. People were getting frustrated."
Stephens said he was aware of the water continuing to rise outside the Dome, but he was uncertain as to whether most of the evacuees knew. By then, however, the sliver of light filtering in through the two holes left in the Dome's mammoth roof courtesy of Katrina was that of despair, not of hope.
"I never felt threatened and I walked around the entire place," Stephens said. "I was talking to people, administering first aid. But people were ready to get out of there. The conditions were horrid and horrible. The stench was unbearable. If we had electricity, it would have been so much better."
But Stephens stopped short of placing blame on authorities for not responding to the needs of the city sooner. He said it would have been impossible to have the required number of buses arranged that were required to evacuate such a large number of evacuees.
"Buses were running (regular routes) to other places," he said. "If you own a bus company and had that many buses available, you would be out of business."
Stephens said he called for additional help and people responded, including Dr. Fred Cerise from the Department of Health in Baton Rouge.
"He came in and stayed with us, and slept with us," Stephens said. "I didn't expect that."
Stephens said he survived off of MREs and water, and that he lost weight.
"It was something I never expected to do," he said, before quickly adding, "I don't ever want to go through something like that again."
Dr. Kevin Stephens
Boardmember
911nola.org
KEVIN U. STEPHENS, Sr, MD, JD
Kevin U. Stephens, is a board certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist who has been in private practice in New Orleans East for over 14 years. He is currently serving as the Health Director for the City of New Orleans. He has served previously as the Women's Health Medical Director for the Office of Public Health in the Department of Health and Hospitals for the State of Louisiana.
Dr. Stephens has been serving as Health Director for the City of New Orleans since 2002. He is responsible for six divisions, thirty programs and 400 over employees. The programs include operation of nine clinics, nutritional services, immunization services, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, lead poisoning prevention and Emergency Medical Services. His accomplishments during this time, includes managing over twenty million dollars in grants for the city.
He has also served as the Medical Director of Great Expectations Foundation, Inc., and was one of the original grant authors for this grant. He is presently on the clinical faculty of Xavier University, Dillard University, LSU Medical School and Tulane Medical School. Dr. Stephens is a member of the Bar in Louisiana and has worked with as a consultant to many local, state and federal agencies and organizations. He has given many lectures across the country and is committed to community education about medical issues.
Dr. Kevin Stephens Sr., in charge of the special needs shelter at the dome, described the Superdome and a nearby arena as a health department's nightmare.
``These conditions are atrocious,'' he said. ``We'll take trucks, planes, boats, anything else -- I have to get these people out of here.''
******
I have to get these people out of here......
because they are TRASHING THE PLACE!
Have they ever heard of picking up their own damn TRASH?! Pouring dirty water in the back of the toilet would have made them flush. No one else had electricity in other areas either, DOCTOR but they weren't shooting, stabbing, raping or stealing.
Those shelters are the responsibility of the local government. No way around it.
And the FEMA plan said 3 to 5 days.
Stephens said he survived off of MREs and water, and that he lost weight
%%%%%%
Oh, there WAS food and water!!!!!
"Stephens said he called for additional help and people responded, including Dr. Fred Cerise from the Department of Health in Baton Rouge.
"He came in and stayed with us, and slept with us," Stephens said. "I didn't expect that."
Fred Cerise is a good leader. When his subordinates couldn't get things stableized in a crisis.....he got in there, rolled up his sleves and helped them.
The Superdome obviously did not have generator back up. Why?
What about a blackout during a regular old thunderstorm? How would you evacuate thousands of people in the dark? Don't any of these giant Domes have generators for emergencies?
Must've smelt like Port Au' Prince, Haiti in there..
Vacationers take Haiti OFF your list.. Ewwweeee...
He was in the SD and he had food and water. By the way the news people acted you would think people were starving. If they had food and water they should have been able to clean up their trash and at least make a special areas for human waste directly away from the people. If they had food and water they should have been able to have existed for a few days. Survive, not in good conditions, but survive.
This was a horrific, mega disaster. I would have been glad to have gotten out of it with my life. People think the US government has a big magic wand that they can wave over any situation and all is well. The mentality of the American people is that it is the government's responsibility to take care of me and if the government doesn't do it fast enough and to my liking I get angry. It was the gangs that caused the problems. People should be mad at that filth! What I don't understand is why wasn't there enough law and order in the dome. Enough National Guard and police should have been left in there so that they could keep law and order. Supposedly everyone was checked for weapons before they went in. Were they checked for drugs and alcohol too?
School buses, sir, are PLENTIFUL!
Red cross publishes standards for shelters. Both for general population and special needs. Most cities have adopted these standards. I know that special needs shelters are suppose to have a back up power source. The reason is obvious. So I have to wonder what standards did N.O. use in selecting the Superdome as a special needs shelter?
"But Stephens stopped short of placing blame on authorities for not responding to the needs of the city sooner. He said it would have been impossible to have the required number of buses arranged that were required to evacuate such a large number of evacuees."
UM, NO. As pointed out, The NO authorities let the 300 busses at their disposal get waterlogged. It took another 3 days for state and local authorities to grab a clue and get busses from elsewhere.