Gustav

my best friend is a Tele nurse at Touro in New Orleans. she is to report to work tomorrow (sunday) at 6pm with her pillow, clothes, and sleeping bag. she will stay there until the crisis is over.

I assumed that mandatory evac. meant just that; do they really keep hospitals open in such disasters? I know they already evac'd the nursing homes in the greater New Orleans area.

is anyone else on the "rescue team"?

Hi. I work in NO and we'll be open through the storm. We're divided into teams. Team A comes in tomorrow and stays until everything's clear. Team B comes to relieve Team A when people are allowed back into the city. I'm on Team A. I think it sucks. I agree....MANDATORY evac should mean just that. But unfortunately, that doesn't apply to cops, firefighters and medical personnel.

Do your cops, firefighters, and yourself as a medical worker all get some sort of medical retirement benefit if you a severely injured during this crisis?
We all know that cops, nonvoluntary firefighters-----paid workers-----, get good retirement pension/medical benefits after 25 years of service, BUT medical workers???? Be careful, I think not !!!!!

Hmmm, I'm not sure. Probably not. All that worked in my hospital through Katrina are assuring me that we will be safe in the hospital. I wasn't here for Katrina, but I'm praying they are right. Please everyone, keep your fellow medical professionals in your prayers.

Wow............. waht a mess. Certainly will be thinking of and praying FOR all of you who must stay in harm's way.

This is horrible.

AGAIN.

Please be safe.

Hubby of linnywho talking. I just dropped off my wife at University Hospital New Orleans-the current interim hospital for Charity. They went code grey at 7am today and she is on the team that gets locked in the hospital with 10 days worth of clothing and food until this is over. Worse part is, this is her first day at University although she does have 2 years experience. She seems to be ok with this, so I guess I will be as well.

Good luck to all you nurses stuck in this dangerous situation.

Ummm....WHY are the hospitals still open????????? Why didn't they move everyone? WHAT are they thinking????? Maybe I just don't get it as I live in a really weather stable area, but ummmm, wasn't EVERYONE supposed to be evacuated? Sheesh.

Will be praying for the one's left to ride out the storm! I'm from South MS & it seems that we will be spared the worst so far! But it can all still change! Good luck to everyone!

I'm watching CNN from Seattle on my lunch break. They just announced that some hospitals have decided not to transport their most critical patients...that seems unwise to me. It appears even the Canadian Armed Forces are offering their services to medi-vac people out. They think Gustav may be a Catagory 5 (Katrina was a 3)...This is nothing to play around with...my co-workers and I here in Seattle are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers. There's still time for this storm to change course...that will be my prayer. Stay safe!

Husband of linnywho again. From what I can tell the national guard and several airlines have been providing air transport and a train company has provided train transport for medically needy patients. I know some have been flown or taken to Memphis. According to the news here there are at least 9 different aircraft that have been mentioned as being available for medical transport. I also know that atleast 100 ambulances were available for transportation of patients to Baton Rouge. I have been seeing them driving caravans of ambulances back and forth to New Orleans for 2 days now.

As far as storm goes, it appears that it will be a Cat 3 at this point. They claim that the storm surg will only be 15 feet at this point and that is considered managable. Some local news agencies are speculating the 25ft storm surg measurement was perhaps exagerated to get people to leave, but who knows. I do expect some flooding in low areas, but I would not expect it to be like Katrina.

It is just my opinion but at this point if a hospital has not taken its critical care patients out of the danger zone, it is of thier own chosing. The resources have been provided and active for 2-3 days now.