Sunday in the Astrodome
Sunday afternoons: Seeing great heroes cross the end zones in the
Astrodome brings back fond memories to long-term Houstonians – mainly
NFL football. We will never forget the glory days of “Love ya Blue,”
Coach Bum Phillips and Earl Campbell.
Today, the end zone of the Astrodome was a different place. While the
submergence of a great American city will go down as one of the worst
natural catastrophes on our continent, and while the pundits and mouthy
politicians have bickered for days about who should bear the blame, the
rest of this country has been hard at work, making sure that thousands
of displaced persons had health care, hot food, clean clothing, laundry
service, sanitary facilities, beds, toys, and kindness - and nowhere was
it more apparent than in the Astrodome.
Today, in the same place where Earl Campbell rushed and made us cheer,
we cheer a different site – we see content, though worried people – all
nice and very appreciative, all committed to picking up the pieces
whether going back to their home town or starting over somewhere else;
we see good people, house officers, nurses, health personnel, and
physicians, from places as far away as San Francisco and Miami, not here
as NFL challengers, but instead converging to volunteer medical and
community services. We see corporate giving like never before – in kind
contributions from CVS Pharmacy, Wall Mart, and thousands upon thousands
of individuals, we see friendly and helpful security from all branches –
Harris County Sheriffs, Houston Police, National Guards. Children have
toys; parents have hope.
What was amazing at the Astrodome today was the degree of organization.
Within a very brief time Houston and Harris Country deployed food
services, sanitary services, bedding and laundry. The American Red Cross
was awesome. Most impressive was the medical service organized by Harris
County Hospital District and staffed by many of our colleagues from Ben
Taub, the medical community, and hundreds of health care givers from
many other cities as well. Each volunteer functioned as if this had been
here for ten years, not ten days.
In the dome – signs every ten feet reminding folks to wash their hands,
a diabetes center, blood pressure monitoring, and mental health support.
There will be many lessons learned from the disaster that befell our
neighbors in the Crescent City, and when Mother Nature loses her temper
again, we will all be better prepared. But, the most important lesson of
all, is how terrific humanity can be when necessity is sprinkled with
kindness.
Stephen Z. Fadem, M.D., FASN
September 11, 2005