All week I’ve been overhearing one end of the phone conversations in the office behind me: “Yes, we are sending nurses; when would you be able to go?” — “No, I can’t tell you now when you’ll leave, but we’re making arrangements now and I’ll call you back.” — “We have a flight arranged for tomorrow morning, can you still go?”
And they have gone. The California Nurses Association (CNA) and the National Nurses Organizing Committee sent 100 nurses to the Gulf Coast to help hurricane evacuees long before federal relief authorities began to get their act together. More nurses are still going.
The South Mississippi Sun Herald reported their arrival in Wiggins:
Shelia Hidalgo of San Francisco also was ready to help, “This is the United States. It’s our people. We need to help.”
CNA is still taking names of volunteers here.
Almost as important, it is asking for contributions to help pay for its relief flights. CNA/NNOC is covering transportation and lodging and, depending on the assignment, may cover other expenses. They estimate costs at approximately $2,500 per nurse. The fellow who organizes the travel says the flights are costing roughly $900 each. This is not because of profiteering by the airlines which are waiving advance purchase requirements; it costs so much because New Orleans was the airline hub for the region. No hub means expensive flights.
If you can help, donate here. “100% of the money goes to sending nurses and 0% goes to administrative costs,” according to CNA.
The hurricane and breakdown of government’s responsibility to cope with disaster made this week emotionally frustrating for those of us watching in horror — it was a good week to be working temporarily for a union that really tried to help.
Cross posted at my blog: Happening-Here?
