Katrina hits close to home

Ethel Herbert.. Rest in Peace
The morning after hurricane Katrina hit, I received a frantic phone call at 5 o'clock in the morning.. now if any of you have elderly parents, the sound of a phone ringing, waking you out of a blissful slumber usually means bad news.. fortunately for my family it wasn't our bad news but it was bad nonetheless.. It was the manager of our football team, asking me if I would call and talk to one of our players.. Her family was in New Orleans, they were still at their house, and it appeared her grandmother had had a stroke. They were trying to get her medical help..but at that point had been unable. So, the answer.. call biscuit.. she works in the media.. maybe she can help.. I called her back.. she was hysterical to say the least... they were blocks from the superdome and unable to get her there.. they had tried a couple of times.. wanting to help but not knowing what to do.. and being that it was 5 in the morning. I told her I would make some calls and call her back.. I wasn't able to find out much.. but did get the number of the command center in charge of rescue ( hey what can I say.. I'm creative in a pinch!).. I called her back and gave her the information I was able to get.. she was very much appreciative.. she was one of my favorite players and we always rode on the bus near her so we could chat.. She wasn't able to play last year.. and I hadn't seen her at all.. due to my own health issues and not being out of the house much.. flash forward to yesterday, when I got an email from the manager of the team letting us know that their story was to be featured on Anderson Cooper 360 at 10pm.(you can watch the story here or read the show transcript here
We tuned in expecting one of those nice reunion stories that we like so much.. instead we sat, mouth agape as the family told a story that I couldn't even imagine..
Once at the Superdome, Ethel was loaded onto a helicopter for medical evacuation.. that was the last they saw of her.. They have spent the last 5 months trying to find out where she went.. what happened to her... getting no answers from anyone. The Gov. of New Orleans was in town for a meeting the other day and while gary tuchman was interviewing my friend's mother.. she caught the attention of the governor.. she was beside herself with frustration.. and her voice raised began shrieking about her mother and the 3000 other people who are unaccounted for in the wake of Katrina.. Apparently the governor heard her and came over to talk.. she made some calls and promised they would find something out. Turns out that a gentleman who had helped evacuate ethel saw the story and called CNN.. He didn't know what happened to her, but she was in grave condition when they loaded her onto the copter, he doubted that she survived the trip. They wouldn't let anyone from the family go with her, so she was seperated, unable to speak and shipped off god knows where..
I had absolutely no idea that this had been going on.. I hadn't heard about it.. we've been sending crews down there monthly to do stories.. if they had only called back, maybe we could have tried to find something out.. I was just sick last night after watching this story.. I just wish they had called.. I am glad that CNN was able to get them some closure.. and apparently there is a morgue down there that thinks they may have her in their unidentified bodies area.. so they will do some DNA testing to see if she's there.. Perhaps then, the family will be able to give her a proper burial and be able to get past the grief.. though I can only imagine it will be difficult.. I don't know what I would do if I were in their shoes.. I am so sorry for them.. and for those who are still dealing with a horrific situation. At the end of nightly news tonight they published some emails they had been receiving and one of them actually said that they were tired of the series NBC has been doing called "the long road back" (paraphrasing) "we are tired of hearing about the trouble in new orleans" you can read the comments for yourself here
I was appalled.. as a country is it so easy to forget what has displaced such a huge number of people? that has devastated so many? are we so uncaring and unfeeling? Sadly it appears we are. You can leave a comment on the brian williams blog if you care to.. I can't string enough non-expletives together to form a cohesive sentence. What the hell is wrong with people?
So to the family of Ethel Herbert.. I am so sorry for your loss.. I am sorry for your pain.. and I am sorry that no one was there to help you.. may your mother/grandmother rest in peace, and may you find the strength to go on and know that you did everything you could.