death by evacuation

[louismaistros]

Comments

[lil_termite]

i know first hand about moving the elderly from nursing homes before a hurricane. it is an extremely difficult task and takes a tremendous amount of time. let me tell you, these folks do not travel light, there is much to consider - all of which their lives depend apon

[louismaistros]

Hi termite --

Thank you for your perspective on this. I agree that there are no easy answers here -- but it seems to me something must be done. I think it's great that there's being a documentary being made about the uncounted storm deaths of 2005. It is about time!

Best,
Louie

[louismaistros]

It seems likely. I've heard of so many elderly who died shortly after that storm, and the friends and relatives always say something like, "They were just never the same after that evacuation." I know a lot of these deaths are unavoidable, but some of them must be.

[whiskeychick]

At some point, when we have to leave our home, we leave our heart, our spirit, our soul.

Without those, death looks pretty tolerable.

Miss Ruthie was an icon and I ran into her on my first visit to NOLA, when I was much younger and things like leaving home didn't seem like a big deal.

But, once you really find a home -- the idea of leaving it is awful.

Your ideas to help ease the pain for our elders seem easily implemented. But, then the need to overcome America's lack of respect for its elders (albeit Louisiana is ahead of the game in that regard)would need to occur, as well.

/hugz

[louismaistros]

Thanks for that. It certainly is a sad situation. I think the main fear of many of our elderly is that they don't want to die in a strange place. I wish I knew the answer to this one.