Breaking News=Deaths reported at New Orleans Airport

[Solaris]

Many dying at airport for lack of medical care

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Another desperate situation is unfolding in
New Orleans -- this time, at the city´s international airport.

Thousands of people are still in a medical triage center there,
and many of them are dying because of a lack of medical care.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist -- a surgeon who visited the
airport today -- says, "The hallways are filled, the floors are
filled." He says, "A lot more than eight to ten people are dying
a day."

Frist says the doctors and nurses there are doing a "great
job." He describes it as a "distribution problem."

APTV 09-03-05 1332EDT

[therealashe]

I really don't understand why is taking so long to evacuate the sick. Can someone help me understand??

[Windy]

Because this situation is too large for the current forces in the area to manage. At some point the force numbers will equalize with the task at hand, but we're not there yet.

[jburns]

I really don't understand why is taking so long to evacuate the sick. Can someone help me understand??

Where do they go? People have the misconception that there are thousands and thousands of available hospital beds in this country. Not even close. A moderate flu season stresses our hospital system and most of those patients aren't even admitted. Any fairly widespread WMD attack on any major US city will make what is going on now seem like the good old days. Remember they are mainly having trouble finding places for those who were already sick when the storm came. After an attack they will also have possibly tens of thousands of additional sick or injured depended on the type of attack.

You have to be prepared to take care of yourself and your family for a fairly extended period of time withot going outside since that will probably not be safe. New Orleans is certainly not the only place where social order can break down.

[mvtrucking]

I really don't understand why is taking so long to evacuate the sick. Can someone help me understand??

Where do they go? People have the misconception that there are thousands and thousands of available hospital beds in this country. Not even close. A moderate flu season stresses our hospital system and most of those patients aren't even admitted. Any fairly widespread WMD attack on any major US city will make what is going on now seem like the good old days. Remember they are mainly having trouble finding places for those who were already sick when the storm came. After an attack they will also have possibly tens of thousands of additional sick or injured depended on the type of attack.

You have to be prepared to take care of yourself and your family for a fairly extended period of time withot going outside since that will probably not be safe. New Orleans is certainly not the only place where social order can break down.

You hit the nail on the head.

[southerngale]

I know there is at least one hospital here in Beaumont (and probably others) who have rooms and are waiting for patients to arrive from New Orleans. As of Thursday evening, they still had not arrived and I'm pretty sure they haven't since. Evacuees are going right through Beaumont to get to Houston and many are here too. I wish they could get some of those who need medical attention here as well.

[GalvestonDuck]

We've had several arrive here too, going to the hospital for inpatient care and the clinics for outpatient treatment.

[simplykristi]

We had 24 patients transported here from NO's children's hospital to the local children's hospital here in KC.

Kristi

[Tommedic]

First, we need to realize that we are seeing a disaster. Decisions have to be made of survivability. When you talk of the most seriously ill or injured, you tie up resources caring for these patients in transit and not on scene with the larger number of patients. We are trained over and over again to make these decisions in a "mass casualty". As I am not on scene, I can only guess that due to the limited number of air ambulances, helicopters not rescuing people, nearby hospital beds for ground transport, the medical personnel are treating those that can be treated on scene and then as open slots become available patients are transported out of the area. Even here in eastern NC, we are expecting patients to be sent to us. We understand that military aircraft will be utilized.

Additionally, I am wondering if some of these patients are not stable enough to survive the move. Even under normal circumstnces, patients remain at smaller, less skilled hospitals in an attempt to stabilize them enough to be transported to a major hospital. Many times the patients are never transported and die at the smaller facility. In a disaster/mass casualty situation, we cannot afford to tie up resources on patients that probably won't survive the trip and redirect the resource for patients that will survive.

Please pray for the medical personnel that are involved for the pressure they are under and the emotional stress they will suffer.

[scostorms]

What happens if San Andreas(sp?) suddenly sparks a 8.0+ this week? With all the FEMA people and national guard in NO, this could be disasterous. It's a real possibility, you never know when the next big quake will strike.

[Windy]

Well, yes, our country is extremely vulnerable right now. I don't think anyone (including me) realized how vulnerable and inept we are at ensuring national security until this week.

[jburns]

First, we need to realize that we are seeing a disaster. Decisions have to be made of survivability.

Exactly correct. The first step of triage is to divide the incoming patients into three groups. Those who, while sick or injured, will most likely improve on their own or with limited care. They wait.

The second group is made up of those that can survive but only with high level medical intervention. These are the ones that are moved first because that can make the difference.

The third group are the very old and feeble and those critically ill or injured that are judged too be beyond the ability to save under the current conditions. They wait, and they die. It's not fun to play God but it is being done as you read this.

This may seem cruel to some but is standard battlefield proceedure and insures that those that have a chance to survive have their chance maximized.

[themusk]

What happens if San Andreas(sp?) suddenly sparks a 8.0+ this week? With all the FEMA people and national guard in NO, this could be disasterous. It's a real possibility, you never know when the next big quake will strike.

I don't even want to think about that.

"What happens" is this country will be in dire straits. We'd be dependent upon an international humanitarian effort for our recovery.

[Terry]

There are hospitals outside of the affected areas ready to take patients that are being evacuated from triage at the NO Airport. As an example, a large plane (? C-140 ?) is due in to Tampa today with the patients headed to our local hospitals.

[Lori]

This disaster is so massive. They are looking everywhere to put patients.
Last night they (WEAR TV) announced the setting up of a air conditioned tent city at Ft. Walton Beach, FL fairgrounds. To include two 250 bed hospital units within the Fairgrounds building. Our county (Okaloosa) which includes Destin is/was only about 180,000.

[aumoore]

Did anyone see the New Orleans Doctor on TV today pleading for any Medical personal that could be spared to go to NO. Also lets not forget there are hundreds of thousands in Mississippi and other areas of Lousiania that are in dire straits. This was not a Cat 3 storm hitting a medium size town like Pensacola(Ivan). I live in the Pensacola area and I remember it took 3-5 days before we had a large national guard presance. Getting the resources to stabilize a large city and a entire states gulf coast is 10 times the job Ivan was.

Also lets not forget people die every day in Hospitals under normal conditions. In a city the size of NO I would guess 10 to 15 die every day from natural causes, Diesese and injury.

[soonertwister]

That is a large field hospital that they've set up at the international airport, So there will be many people there. Few if any will be ambulatory, many will be in critical condition.

If you don't know what the definition of medical triage is, you should make yourself informed of it. Deaths, no matter how unfortunate, are literally inevitable in these circumstances. Some of those who were reported as dying without medical care may have already been classified as likely to die with or without medical intervention that they had to move on to people who had a chance to live. So don't be too sure that just because people were dying and no medical assistance was there, that it wasn't due to necessity, rather than disregard of life.

[jpigott]

on MSNBC just now they had on a Time Magazine reporter from Baton Rouge who has sources from the NO ambulance services that say they are still approx. 45K people still in the city. The reporter then went on to say there are still people waiting to be lifted out from the convention center/downtown area, but not 45K more, and that there are likely a staggering # of those still trapped or dead in their residences

[MBismyPlayground]

Last night, listening to the scanner, they were filling up the C17s all night long with "handicapped" patients(not sure exactly what that means) as well as emergency patients. Somehow I connected with the airfield there. C17s are the new plane of the military. Husband says probably can fit 20 humvees plus the soldiers on them. AF Met may know more.
It takes a little time to deploy the soldiers on them to get to LA, unload them and then reload them with patients.
I know there are many MASH units either there, arriving, or en route.
Some of the 82nd ABN arrived last night. A whole brigade(505th PIR) along with elements of the 325 AIR. Another brigade or elements of are now on standby.
These folks will be setting up more field hospitals and such, but it takes time as they have to be equiped. The folks that are coming are experienced at this. They did one hell of a job when the planes crashed at Ft. Bragg and so many soldiers were burned. The hospital itself was not big enough and they set up field hospitals all around the perimeter of the hospital as well.
The airforce people are leaving, as well. All over Fort Bragg, Fayetteville area, I am told they keep seeing and hearing planes leaving.

Right now, until things are set up it is a hurry up and wait situation.

[soonertwister]

The C-17 Globemaster is the newest plane in our military heavy transport fleet, and is the principal heavy lift aircraft we use. It's designed for rapid strategic delivery.

Anybody here familiar with the C-5 Galaxy? It makes the Globemaster look like a guppy. It's the largest aircraft I've ever seen, and I've seen it a bunch. They make 747's look like DC-3's. The are primarily for mass troop transport and transfer to any part of the world the heaviest combat equipment we have. There isn't any non-flying piece in the U.S. Military that it can't take off the ground. When one flies directly over you at low altitude, you feel like it is blotting out the sun. Surprisingly, they aren't very noisy, at least in empty flight.

(Corrected typo.)