Two Weeks aready?

Wow two weeks goes by in an eyeblink it seems.

I've been very, very, very busy.  And it's been a great time!  After struggling with webpages, I've managed to put together over 45 pages (well they are each over 90% done).  Just some finishing touches and I'll be ready to launch.  Ooops! "Launch" -- what is that?  HOW do I do that??  Well, that will be one of my upcoming lessons.

I want to thank Janet, cousin to my friend Vicki.  Without Janet, I would still be stuck on this project, which had not gotten even 1 page done that I liked even a little.  But, with Janet's help, I've learned a TON of stuff and am well on my way!

Of course, now I have to go delete 2 previous attempts at *very* bad websites!  I'll be glad to see those few pages go!  And of course, I can use that space for my new & improved pages!  Yeah!

I really get a kick from mastering NEW info and finding success in USING new info.  I guess I'm very much a "learner;" that is, I really enjoy learning.  I never, ever, ever thought I'd be doing this kind of project!

Of course, I have jitters about launching the website.  Will it be good enough for users?  Will they like it?  Have I forgotten anything?  At night, I can "hear" ideas perculating in my mind.  Sooner or later those ideas will pop to the surface.  I hope soon, cos I'm not happy with the color & images "design" part of my webpages yet.  Part of MY problem is that what I like in images doesn't lend itself very well to computer use.  Nor on mainly data pages (genealogy data).  So I'm searching free image sites to see what I can find.

Hopefully, I'll have my very first website up & running by November.   I'm planning three sites linked together.  Hope it works.

Of course.... the work on my book has come to a standstill - again.  I really think I should have a secretary (or two)-- LOL.  I don't have enough hands to do what I want to get done!!

 

Justice for Patients left to drown/die

           On September 7th I wrote in this journal that the nursing home owners needed to be identified, charged, and jailed for suspected homocide or manslaughter for leaving those patients/not evacuating the patients.  I also wrote a letter to CNN about WHY no journalist had attempted to identify/find/interview the persons responsible for those patients being abandoned.

             Well, some action has been taken, finally.  Read below.

=================================================

"Nursing Home Owners Charged in Deaths

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The husband-and-wife owners of a nursing home near New Orleans were charged Tuesday with negligent homicide in the deaths of 34 people during the flooding unleashed by Hurricane Katrina.

The case represents the first major prosecution to come out of the disaster.

The owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in Chalmette "were asked if they wanted to move (the patients). They did not. They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming," Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti said.

"In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these patients," Foti said.

Salvador A. Mangano and his wife, Mable, surrendered and were jailed on 34 counts of negligent homicide. Each count carries up to five years in prison.

The attorney general said he is also investigating the discovery of more than 40 corpses at flooded-out Memorial Medical Center, in New Orleans' Uptown section.

The victims at St. Rita's died Aug. 29, the day the hurricane hit, and on Sept. 6, at least 14 unrecognizable bodies were still inside the nursing home, the New York Times reported last week.

St. Bernard Parish Councilman Ricky Melerine said the water rose 3 feet in 15 minutes that morning and then even faster, the Times said.

Several men tried to rescue the nursing home's residents by floating them out on mattresses, and others were able to walk to a school, the Times said. In all, the home had about 60 residents.

There were apparent efforts to fight the incoming water inside St. Rita's. A table was nailed against a window and a couch was pushed up against a door, the Times said. There was also evidence that water had reached the roof.

The owners had an evacuation plan as required under state law and a contract with an ambulance service to evacuate the patients, but they did not call the company, Foti said.

They also turned down an offer from St. Bernard Parish officials who asked if the nursing home wanted help evacuating, he said. The home is about 10 miles southeast of New Orleans in an area of heavy devastation.

Foti said the bodies have not all been identified and he was not sure how many of the victims were patients or staff.

"They had a duty and a standard of care to people who could not care for themselves," Foti said of the owners. "If you or I decided we are going to stay, we do it of our own free will.

The people at the nursing home don't have that choice."

09/13/05 17:54 EDT

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

My experience is not your expectation

I've been saving this quoatation in an email since June 21st and forwarding it to myself month after month (AOL takes mail that is more than 30 days old).  The quote is: "My experience is not your expectation."  Regretfully, I don't remember where I saw it.

                              My experience is not your expectation....

            My life drastically changed in 1999.  After almost 20 years of "walking-wounded" type pain, my body finally gave in (gave up) and the past 7 years has been practically unbearable with 24 hr. severe pain.  My mobility changed; my life changed.

           But, my family has not understood the changes I've gone through, nor the situation I now find myself in every day.  They expect my life to be the same.  But, it is not the same, and probably will never be the same ever again. 

          Yet, my sisters still expect me to be normal, and to have normal activities as they do in their lives.  They don't want to hear that I'm in pain; they don't want to hear one word about (ewww) illness.  They have not been chronically ill.  They expect me to recover as one would after a bad cold or flu.  But, chronic pain is not like that; recovery, if any occurs, might happen after surgical intervention, or, maybe never.  Never is a word they don't want to hear.

          No, if I try to come to terms with my situation and begin accepting what has happened TO me, my sisters say I am not being "positive enough."  They fully believe positive thinking is enough to make my pain just disappear.  They ignore the fact that medical interventions (physical therapy, ultrasound, etc.) has failed to correct the problem and that if surgery is not recommended (or indicated) that the way I am now will be the way I will be.  No amount of positive thinking will totally heal my body or make damaged nerves suddenly functional again.

         For 7 years I have tried to beas productive as I can be from the confines of bed or chair, mostly bed.  Somedays, I make tremendous progress towards goals I have set for different projects, but other days, progress is very little.  My family doesn't understand that how I wake up is never predictable.  A "good day" is never guaranteed.  For me, a "positive" in my day may be that I completed 2 pages of writing a book.  Just 2 little pages.  No, it doesn't compare to my former life of bread-winner, mother, errand-runner, going back to college for a 2nd degree.  But those days are gone.  Now a "positive" may be that I had one or two "good hours" before pain overruled any plans I had for the day.

         Pain has not only taken away my former "normal" life, sadly it has also taken away my relationships with 2 of my 3 remaining sisters.  I can't talk to them and under the circumstances, they don't want to talk to me.  They've become judgmental and unaccepting of -- me.  We have no contact now except an occasional email.  One of the two never emails at all.  There are no telephone calls.

         I am sad that they don't want me in their lives.  Yet, I cannot be treated as though I should be apologetic for what life has handed to me to bear.  I cannot be treated as though I am some burden to them (they live in other States, are not close-by, and are never responsible for my care, so the feeling of being a burden comes only from how they speak and act towards me). 

         No, "my experience is not your expectation...."  I cannot run to the mall with my sisters, or jump in the car to go to a restaurant for lunch/dunner with them.  I cannot go "see the sites" if / when they choose to visit me.  I can no longer get in my car to make the 12+ hour trip to see the one...or take an airplane across the country to see the other one.  I no longer have a job/work to tell them about, or to relate funny stories about my boss/coworkers.  I cannot even personally relate to things they experience out in the world now, like driving in traffic jams and the high cost of gas.  My world is no longer out in "the world."  My world is now this world, a much smaller world than I ever, ever, thought or dreamed or ever knew existed.  I never thought this would be my world at a young age.

          No, dear sisters, "my experience is not your expectation...."   And my expectation and hope is no one will ever have to go through this experience....

 

 

God Help Us All

"The enormity of the disaster came ever-clearer in neighboring St. Bernard Parish, which was hit by a levee break that brought a wall of water up to 20 feet high. State Rep. Nita Hutter said 30 people died at a flooded nursing home in Chalmette when the staff left the elderly residents behind in their beds. And Rep. Charlie Melancon said more than 100 people died at a dockside warehouse while they waited for rescuers to ferry them to safety.

From the article "Some New Orleans Holdouts Leave Reluctantly," By SHARON COHEN, AP, NEW ORLEANS (Sept. 7)  as seen at http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050824033709990005

======================================================

      The employees who deserted those elderly patients should be brought up on criminal charges by the Federal government AND State government!   How dare they leave human beings to drown, especially when nursing home patients are often immobile or need assistance to get to a sitting position.  They could have placed each patient in a Geri-chair and wheeled them to a central place where they might be safer -- or someplace where their heads might have been higher than the water level !  To be stranded in hospital beds, and often restrained as many nursing home patients are kept on a daily basis, and left to drown is a criminal act of homocide. 

       What are the identites of those employees?  Where did they go?  Who rescued them?  AND what employees, if any, told any person in authority that the patients were there?  OR, did they all act cowardly, run away from their responsibility and never mention the patients to anyone?? 

        Where is the television coverage on this story?  Where is CNN - why hasn't a journalist tracked down those employees to whatever shelter they are in and asked them "WHY did you kill those people?"  The easy answer is "I didn't kill them; the floodwaters killed them."  But, the moral responsibility of caregivers is the same, whether in the face of any conditions at that institution.  Every institution has evacuation plans for fire, flood, etc.  Yes, the New Orleans flood was not within the "normal" scope of disasters, but thoseemployees did not even try to rescue those patients!

          Through the New Orleans tragedy, we have witnessed a large number of examples of the moral decline of America.  Snipers shooting at rescuers and those trying to make repairs to pumping, cell towers, electrical grid; rapes and murders at the Dome; leaving the invalid strapped to hospital beds....  All I can say is, God help us all.

Hurricaine Relief

I wrote this for a couple groups with members in the UK.

 

Dear all/anyone,

Network for Good is the recommended website to get information for "how to help" or donate money.  The request of agencies is to donate money.  It is recommended to specify "Hurricaine Relief" on/with your donation. And you can specify the area or type of help (like Red Cross/medical help; or Animal rescue.) Network for Good is  http://www.networkforgood.org/     

Here is the page listing each organization which needs/accepts donations http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/   (The donate button is UNDER each organization --- there is no horizontal line between the entries, so it can look confusing, so just remember the donate button is UNDER the one you want.)  When you click DONATE you get a complete description of the organization & its assests. 

When you click DONATE NOW, it takes you to a second page with a secure server where you can make the donation online, just like making other purchases online.

Hope this helps someone.

It is estimated that at least 15%-plus people of New Orleans are STILL either waiting in or are trapped IN their homes.  Waters often came into the second story, so they believe many are trapped IN their ATTICS with no way to break through the roofs. 

They believe they will find hundreds dead in their attics - from flood waters OR from the extreme heat in attics with the dehydration that would follow from high heat/no drinking water.  They estimate it will take months to find and recover all the bodies.  This is heartbreaking.  But it means the USA will need money to pay / house  / feed the searchers as well as the fuel for helicopters//trucks etc used in the search. 

Most of the walking-living that were in LARGE GROUPS have been rescued and removed  from the area now. (But still up to 15-20% are still trapped in houses.)  This means that other States/Cities need relief help, such as Houston Texas where up to 75,000 people were taken to the Astrodome.  They estimate these folks will live AT the dome for at least 3 to 6 months.  They need everything from toothbrushes...to deodorant...to personal care products...soap...clothes..etc, etc etc.  Like most of the USA who want to help, it is not very practical to send packages of supplies, so it is recommended to donate money to a reputable charity involved in the rescue process.

They have taken people out by coast guard and Army helicopters, and also chartered commercial planes to take people from the local staging ground to other Cities/States.  So money to buy fuel is very, very important. 

The devastated area, I believe they said, is equal to the size of Great Britian.  It covers Louisianna, Alabama & Mississippi.  Also part of Florida was affected, but much less damage. 

Hope this information helps you all decide what you want to do to help.  Just remember though, even a little donation will be great.  Many people think donations need to be big sums, but little bits of money from many all get added together for the greater good.

Have a nice weekend.


PS remember they have only begun going in to rescue the animals left behind, which include dogs, cats, pets, and farm animals.

as of Sept 4 2005:  

Estimates for money needed :   $ 90 BILLION

Estimates to get water out of city:  up to 90 days

No estimates given on fuel spent

What are they thinking???????

         I've watched a lot of the New Orleans coverage and I'm very upset to hear there were rapes going on.  I just have to wonder: WHY?

        I doubt very much that there is ONE female who thinks of sex or satisfying sexual needs during a horrific crisis!   Women may want to be held, be comforted, and that in turn might FEEL sexual.  But, it passes.

        Yet, it is not enough to say "ONLY MEN would think of SEXUAL NEEDS in such a situation!"  It is well-known that rape is a power issue, a control issue.  But, I think it is more than that.  Many men simply do not know how to be close, get comfort, or get any emotional needs met EXCEPT through sex.  They misinterpret everything they are feeling and turn those emotions into "I must control you; I must 'have' you."  

         However, whatever reasons are behind the rapes in New Orleans, it is appalling. 

        But there is quite a bit going on that's appalling.  Murders, beatings, robbery.  Why??  Everyone there is in the "same boat" - that is, with NO boat, no way out, and dwindling hope.  So why beat each other?  Why rob someone?  Why KILL?  Hasn't the hurricaine and flooding already killed enough people, and left the rest hurting? 

        Where is their humanity?????

         It's gone.  If they ever had any, that is.