Friday, July 21, 2006

Can't help thinking about New Orleans.......

So for you non St. Louis people I will let you in on the fact that it has been a bit of a adventure here in the last couple of days to say the least. It is been hot really hot like 100 plus but Wednesday night it rained and so it knocked down a lot of trees and power lines and that is where the fun begins. I watched the mayor talk on Wednesday night about how it was the worst storm in the history of the city and thinking ok yeah yeah..Wednesday morning I get a phone call early ok it may not have been early but I was still in bed so it was kinda early saying a nursing home that is our sister home had no power or lights. When I got there it was amazing there were trees down everywhere and no power. We decided to move people to the local hospital and so we began moving three at a time via van. No problem huh but there were 80 of them 80 people some so confused some not able to talk in wheelchairs moving . Somewhere around 25 people we decided we needed more help b/c it was so hot and it was a slow process...So we called Bi-state and they came three full on buses came and then we were on. We moved them on the buses and four hours later and one tv camera that was done..Ok so here I am going back to my nursing home and I get a phone call saying hey there is another nursing home in the area that lost power and they want you to come help them and bring some people to our home. So off we go again. Same scenario more chaos cause it was hotter. So we moved more people this time unto school buses and that is no easy task.......I left there again to return and then I went back to work and received a phone call that three more were coming from another home around 8 via bus...As the day progressed we heard local hospitals had lost power and 8 other nursing homes we heard stories of residents sleeping on cots and again lots of chaos. We finally recieved our last resident around 8:30 that had been loaded on a bus hours before dropped off to us alone no family. It made you think.....I bet this is what it was like.. When I left work that night I was amazed at the damage in the city all the trees down, there was no power and that translated into no gas that I ever found at gas stations, no street lights, no stop lights I saw stores that had no power and people were lined up so they could go in one at at time...people had no where to go to get out of the heat. And today it continued only I saw truckloads of National Guard members riding around checking on people, keeping the peace, cleaning up the city. Looking back over the last couple of days I think is this real...a good indication of what could have been and another reminder again of how serious this business of watching old people is...I never felt so glad to be home in my life. Then again I wonder how those old people feel or the people in New Orleans some of them never even went home did they. Hopefully the city will have power restored soon and this will all be put behind us.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Its Super Fun Day



What do you ask is Super Fun Day well it is a day that you do whatever you want you have as much fun as possible...Phil and I both took off it is a bit of a holiday here so heres to Super Fun Day everyone should experience one at least once a year.