and Hurricane Katrina

Dear Friends,

 I would personally like to thank you for your thoughts and wishes and generosity in responding to the needs of the victims of Hurricane Katrina throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.

 AIDSail, while not an emergency relief agency, volunteered as many agencies have to offer services during this natural disaster which touched the lives of so many people both in the hurricane affected area and throughout the country. Participation has evolved from volunteering to significantly more when the needs are so vast. AIDSail has been coordinating volunteer medical relief throughout the region, calling for volunteers, assisting with emergency licensing of physicians, nurses, EMT’s, pharmacists and other medical personnel, coordinating travel and lodging which for many has been in tent camps set up by Veterans for Peace in Covington, LA and FEMA in the New Orleans area and available volunteer houses through SOS in Mississippi. 

 The initial days following the hurricane brought complete disbelief to many who realized that the response was clearly not sufficient to assist those who suffered from this disaster. AIDSail medical teams worked along with many other agencies to provide a holistic response to meet the needs of those throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. Teams fanned out throughout the region to set up temporary clinics, particularly in rural communities not able to access shelter based services, to knock on doors to find the elderly who were unable or too infirm to leave their homes during the flooding, to work alongside shelter based programs whose medical teams were only allowed to provide lifesaving care and not primary care or even provide a tetanus shot. Our volunteers scouted destroyed neighborhoods to provide tetanus shots to survivors picking through the rubble of their homes, and provided medical attention where sewage and medical treatment plants overflowed into nearby towns. AIDSail medical teams worked alongside volunteers with Veterans for Peace and Plenty International who distributed food and supplies, repaired homes, tarped roofs, cleared debris, and provided medical relief. Staff and volunteers conducted needs assessments and continually found new areas that had yet to be served, and updated local and state government and coordinated with local public health agencies.

 It is difficult to believe that two months have passed and the process continues, and is likely to continue for some time. AIDSail has been also working with Common Ground Collective, an extremely courageous group of community leaders who remained during Hurricane Katrina and Rita to care for their communities, and then called out to friends and neighbors throughout the United States to work alongside them to care for and rebuild their community in New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers and the surrounding communities. The Common Ground Clinic is providing medical care for 150 people per day on average. Many people have been without critical medications for diabetes and hypertension, and HIV, have respiratory problems and rashes, need first aid and hygiene supplies.  The clinic has been completely run by volunteers and is now transitioning to have a permanent place in a community which prior to Hurricane Katrina had no medical clinic.                                                              Common Ground Collective Clinic

 Through the horror of this devastation shines a changing consciousness of special people who have come together – driving cars and trucks through the night filled with supplies, taking leave of families and comfortable homes to work in difficult conditions with long hours and few hours of restful sleep in tent cities that outgrew their allotted spaces.  Now agencies and volunteers whose lives are changed through this are coming together to form a new collaboration, United Peace Relief whose mission is to respond with conventional and alternative medical and humanitarian relief to disasters while promoting peace and nonviolence.

 Just the mere task of updating you on all of AIDSail’s accomplishments has taken a backseat to providing medical relief. Thanks for your patience and continued support and please support AIDSail’s work in the Katrina relief efforts and in HIV prevention for women in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Warm regards,

Christine Murto, M.A.

Volunteer for Katrina Relief

If you are a medical professional and are interested in volunteering please contact us at volunteer@aidsail.org.

Those interested in volunteering please read the following

Current Donations Needed

Medical supplies currently needed - please call with any available donations and check regularly for updates as to specific needs
  Mobile clinics, Vans, RVs or Trucks to transport medical personnel and supplies needed to reach shelters and other communities