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On The Dock Of The Dome
Frederick Cerise is secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. AVOIDING LOW-LYING ROADS and dodging power lines, driving a circuitous twenty-five miles to make what should have been a five-mile trip, it took our group until Monday evening to reach the Superdome. As night fell, the water kept rising. Monday night and Tuesday were spent relocating the elderly and infirm from the dark and wet intestines of the Superdome to the dry, sunlit concourses of the adjacent basketball arena. The Dome had become an island, as had a number of the city’s hospitals. Wednesday before dusk, I sat on an upturned bucket, alone, on the loading dock of the Dome studying the water line, in some irrational hope that the water was receding. It looked to have risen a bit more. Into that rare calm, a twentysomething man wandered by and asked to use my cell phone—which happened to be working at the time. I heard him tell his grandmother that he was OK. Alone once again, I called Jimmy Guidry, our state health officer, who was directing emergency operations from Baton Rouge. Jimmy relayed that the Wildlife and Fisheries agents were concentrating on emptying hospitals. The interstate highway was packed with civilian cars towing boats, coming into the area to rescue stranded people from the water. The assistance would allow the state agents to concentrate on hospital evacuations. Guidry’s words struck me. A flood of help by regular citizens during our flood of storm-waters had begun. I hung up and thought about the day of work ahead. Then, overwhelmed by the demonstration of human goodness and caring in the midst of tragedy, I sat still as tears rolled from my eyes. I was moved not out of despair but out of hope. Since the storm, we have heard much about what was not done. The volunteer deluge is a remarkable example of what was done. It is testimony to the continued presence of the conscience in our world. From the phone calls from colleagues in other parts of the country with offers to help; to the volunteer physicians and nurses who quickly staffed local shelters; to the group of health information technology experts that developed an interactive Web site to make available evacuees’ prescription drug histories; to the health policy experts who regularly weigh in to help plan for the needs of the region, I continue to be overwhelmed by the great volume of assistance our state has received from regular citizens across the land. Crisis provides opportunities for humans to exercise character. This tragic flood brought destruction to us but also hope. It has given life to the words of poet John Donne that "no man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main."
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