Arrival in Slidell, LA - Day One

We had a very uneventful flight down here today. Everyone made it one piece and were greeted with sunny skies and 60 degree weather. Awesome welcome. We took a bus drive through New Orleans to Slidell and every turn we took was more devastation. There are middle/upper-class neighborhoods where every sixth house is experiencing renovation, but the in-betweens are completely vacant. There is still spray paint on the outside of the houses from when they were searched and what they found - "dead dog", "dead cat" - not quite sure what code they used for people. You also see the FEMA trailers sprinkled throughout neighborhoods in the front yard or side yard. During the bus ride the driver told us "right here, we'd be under 6 feet of water" and "this bridge we're driving on was disconnected in several sections" (the 11 mile bridge that crosses Lake Pontchartrain -- the other bridge is 24 miles and is the longest in the world).

We arrived at the old furniture store, now the Operation Blessing Command Center, around 5:30-6, got a brief tour, dinner, our badges and a very military-like mission briefing, which included the "Rules of Engagement". Everyone is in good spirits, excited about the known and unknown and being very flexible. The Operation Blessing people were very excited to have our help, which felt great. There are 400 medical professionals that will be serving at the New Orleans Recovery Week, and they are expecting at least 10,000 people to show up. Although the focus is chronic illness, we have been told that this tent city medical center is the closest acute care available in a 10 mile radius, so they have also seen gun shot wounds and acute MI, which is unfortunate, but great that they can get help somewhere with only 3 of 11 hospitals up and running. They said the site of Recovery Week is actually across the street from one of the once major hospitals in New Orleans that is completely empty now.

Tomorrow we help set up the site, move equipment and get the flow of traffic down. It looks like we'll have some early days for the next week. 90% chance of rain tomorrow with a high of 60. Still better than 19 degrees. . .

They have some laptops available here, hooked up to a satellite. So I will update when I can!