05-SEP-A-5
MY MESSAGE WHICH I HAD ATTEMPTED TO SEND TO ALERT FRIENDS THAT I WOULD BE ABRUPTLY AWOL—
ITSELF INTERRUPTED
September 4, 2005
OK, Thanks!
I had started into the large load of work for our ELDP sessions the Sep. 9--10 weekend, with one ear tuned to the radio, thinking, as I did at Christmas time when the tsunami hit, "You must be kidding about deaths in the hundreds--I know those coastal peoples in Asia and have seen them and worked with them--there cannot be less than hundreds of thousands." And now it is our own Gulf Coast, as they were reporting deaths in the fifties and strandings in the hundreds--right! I came in to work at 3:00 AM to clear the decks and move appointments.
You may be aware that I am just back from Eritrea and have not fully unpacked my medical kits. So much the better, since I am now on my way "out of here"--awaiting only the bulldozing of a military landing strip on the Louisiana coast. When I got to work I found what I had half expected from the Maryland Department of Health Emergency Preparedness Volunteers (attached) under the heading listed in the "Subject line" above. They are calling for surgeons with public health awareness and expertise in tropical medical contagion hazards, so I can hardly duck that description! I will do what I can to be back for our ELDP weekend.
Cheers!
GWG