Just in case anyone would like to do more for the victims of hurricane Katrina, there is still a great need for volunteers. And that includes nurses.

The federal government is calling upon registered nurses and other health care personnel to assist relief efforts in the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast region.

According to the HHS, volunteers must have current Hepatitis A and B, as well as tetanus/diptheria, immunizations. Volunteers will be considered non-paid federal employees eligible for liability coverage under the Federal Tort Claims Act, as well as workers’ compensation coverage. Although no salary is provided, travel and per-diem expenses will be paid to health care volunteers, HHS says.

I am curious as to why a diptheria vaccine would be required. Hep A, B and tetanus I can understand. In fact, the Hep B vaccine requirement is the reason why I can’t volunteer (other than my inactive license which would require 30 CEUs in a hurry to get reactivated). I can’t take the vaccine, unless I wish to take the risk of severely damaging my health. But why diptheria?

Diptheria is extremely rare in the United States, with fewer than 5 reported cases a year. As far as we all know, the childhood series of DPT vaccines provides lifelong immunity to it. Boosters of the vaccine are recommended for adults because the benefits of the vaccine decrease with age, but still–that mainly would apply to anyone traveling to an area where it is still a problem. And since tetanus can certainly be given separately from diptheria, why on earth would this vaccine be required? It is extremely bizarre to say the least.

You do have to pay for your own vaccines, by the way, so that makes this requirement all the more strange.

By the way, and I’m going to write more on this subject later on, but has anyone heard a peep about the nursing shortage, as it relates to the hurricane? Were nurses in short supply at the hospitals which suffered damage? And how does the nursing shortage affect the call for volunteers–if at all?

Points to ponder…

Can it be a year already? Time doesn’t just fly, to moves faster than my cat does when the phantom wind spirits are chasing her.

But my anniversary is creeping up. One year ago tomorrow, I began this wonderful blog. So this is a pre-anniversary announcement. Get ready for tomorrow–it’s the real thing!

This is a press release that I received and thought I would post it on my blog, since toxic chemical waste can be, uh, detrimental to one’s health. It seems that the feds are being very coy when it comes to releasing information that is supposedly guaranteed under the Freedom of Information Act–particularly when it comes to those sweet little toxins that creep into our environment.

Katrina only latest example of feds withholding environmental data

JENKINTOWN, PA. – It’s been more than a week since The Times-Picayune
newspaper of New Orleans turned in desperation to the federal Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) to answer a basic question: Where are dangerous
chemicals leaking as a result of Hurricane Katrina?

EPA officials held a press conference last week to address pollution in New
Orleans floodwaters, and late in the week released some water-quality
testing results. But they still have not fulfilled the reporters’ FOIA
request and answer that basic question: Where are dangerous chemicals
leaking as a result of Hurricane Katrina?

Do we laugh at Michael Brown, feel sorry for him because he is such a liar and a loser, or string him up on the powerlines? This man is pathetic beyond words. Now he is trying to put the blame for his ineptness, for his lack of experience, for his complete ignorance, on state officials.

The former FEMA director who became a lightning rod for the sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina put the blame on state officials in an interview with the New York Times newspaper.

His account suggested the White House knew right away that the storm was leaving the coast in shambles.

Sorry, Mikey, but even the White House wants to distance itself from you.

A top administration official told the Times that White House officials remember Brown’s calls, but don’t think they had the urgency he recalls.

Doesn’t this man have any shame or pride? Please Michael Brown, just shut your mouth and disappear somewhere. Go ride an Arabian horse into the sunset, or check yourself into the local state mental hospital. Your attempts at clearing your name only make you look like an even greater fool.