The following is an excerpt of an email I sent out to friends about my day today at the Astrodome.

I’m going back tomorrow to volunteer with the Student Epidemic Intelligence Society based at my school, the UT School of Public Health. We’re going to be conducting rapid needs assessments of patients going through triage, basically gathering information on medical symptoms so that we can get an idea of what types of care is needed, and also to keep an eye on any potential outbreaks. Yay for epidemiology and public health geeks.

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Hi all -  Just got back from the Astrodome and want to share my experience of this crazy day...I'll probably ramble a bit, so my apologies in advance.   It's craziness.  People everywhere. When I got there at 6:45am, the Astrodome was already overflowing and they were starting to setup cots in the Reliant Arena. By the time I left at 6pm, the registration/sleeping areas in the Arena area had started overflowing as well.  I spent the day in the health clinic.  The first part of the morning was spent intaking people for medical care and then sending them through triage. I spent the rest of the day in the pharmacy dispensing meds. We were running about 24 hours behind schedule, until CVS brought their "mobile pharmacy" in the form of a huge truck trailer....but even then, we were still about 12 hours behind in filling prescriptions.  Most, if not all, of the health services were running on less than the bare essentials...doctors and nurses running in and out of the pharmacy searching for insulin, nitroglycerin, syringes, etc.  The media's been painting this picture of Katrina refugees as violence-prone or criminals, but I didn't see anyone like that at all. In fact, I didn't see a single expression of anger or hatred...and definitely no hint of violence.  If anything, there was quiet desperation, shock, and lots of sadness...but more than that, gratefulness and appreciation. I think I heard a lifetime's worth of "god bless you" today.   One of the more moving things I saw was the number of refugees helping each other...even after they'd lost everything, they were going out of their way to make sure complete strangers - children, the elderly and sick - were taken care of, before themselves.  I even saw an evacuee that had put on a volunteer badge and started helping out.  This morning, I was interviewed by WBAI, the Pacifica radio affiliate in New York. Pokey Anderson,  a reporter at KPFT (the Pacifica affiliate in Houston),   had given them my number. Before we went on air, one of the reporters said they wanted to hear about how people were being turned away from the Astrodome.  I told her that wasn't what I was seeing - in fact, I was seeing more buses and people pull in. If I find a link to the WBAI interview, I'll post it on my site.  I'm throwing some old clothes into a box to take over tomorrow.  One question people kept asking today (besides "are my medications ready?") was "do you know where I can get some clean clothes?"  I feel so blessed/spoiled that I can sit here right now in my clean, dry home with a fridge full of food, a private toilet/shower, my cat and a warm bed.  I can't imagine what all the Katrina refugees are going through...but it makes me feel grateful for the things I have, especially friends and family.  Peace. 

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