Hospital Helps Katrina and Rita Victims
As the hurricanes came ashore on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts, doctors and the hospital’s Teddy Bear Transport Team were among those providing relief to those caught in the path of the storm.
In the first days of the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, the transport team’s critical care King Air B 200 helped evacuate children with medical needs from New Orleans area hospitals to facilities.
Then as Hurricane Rita neared the Texas Gulf Coast both the transport team’s airplane and helicopter were the only neonatal team mobilized to begin evacuating critically ill newborns and young children the Wednesday before the storm.
To help provide these and other services, Cook Children’s’ relies on support from countless donors and contributors.
In other hurricane news, Dogster (dogster.com) is offering that for each Paid Plus subscription in the month of September Dogster and Catster will give $5 to Katrina relief for animals.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is providing comprehensive Web-based resources for Hurricane Katrina survivors and those seeking to assist relief efforts.
According to Roberta Sklar, communications director for the organization, the full scope of the damage inflicted by Katrina will likely take months to ascertain.
The resources can be found at thetaskforce.org/Katrina aid.
These resources provide information on how the various relief efforts are directing the funds received; some seek to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people specifically, while others seek to help all victims of the hurricane.
Also included on the Task Force web site are resources for people from the affected region who may be in need of direct services, including information about how LGBT community centers in the region are assisting people displaced by the hurricane, and resources to meet the needs of HIV-positive individuals.
The resources on the site will be updated regularly with additional resources, including, shortly, a page of guidelines detailing how to make shelters safe for transgender evacuees.
There are many displaced families seeking shelter in North Texas after fleeing the aftermath of Katrina. Planned Parenthood of North Texas is requesting people to let them know of any shelters or organizations in your area that are helping with evacuees.
Planned Parenthood staff said they will do all they can to help evacuees from the devastating storm.
For more information go to ppnt.org
