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Published by
International
Orthodox Christian Charities,
September 6, 2005
Ecumenical Team Evacuates Hundreds From New
Orleans Airport |
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Baton Rouge, LA
(IOCC) - An ecumenical response team made up of
personnel from International Orthodox Christian
Charities (IOCC), Catholic Charities and
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) negotiated their
way from Baton Rouge, La. to the Louis Armstrong
New Orleans International Airport during the
early hours of Sunday morning to evacuate 340
people in need of urgent medical care.
Along the way, the group described the heroic
efforts of countless people - from the bus
drivers who made the journey to medical
personnel at the airport - and the frayed nerves
of people doing their best to cope and survive.
The airport’s baggage claim area, serving as a
triage facility where hundreds of people were
receiving attention from medical personnel, was
crowded with stretchers on carousels, the
wheelchair bound, and people with broken limbs
and other ailments.
Medical staff at the airport expressed relief at
the sight of buses which took those in need of
medical attention to the Louisiana State
University Field Hospital in Baton Rouge, La.
Physicians at the airport recounted the 36 hour
period prior to their arrival when attempts made
by other buses to access the facility had been
turned away.
Traveling in a convoy of ten school buses
provided through the Disaster Recovery Center
and accompanied by students from local
universities, the team made its way to the
airport through complete darkness and
uncertainty during a journey that was at times
made tense by the lack of clear communication on
the ground – especially at the checkpoints.
“As we approached New Orleans there was a stench
in the air,” described Leonidas “Lee”
Kapetanakis, an IOCC Emergency Response team
member from Houston, Texas. “It was an eerie
scene as we negotiated our way through four
checkpoints, escorted by military personnel and
police officers.”
The operation began as an effort to evacuate a
group of 300 Vietnamese who reportedly were
stranded at the airport. Based on the
information they had, the team met with
officials at the Disaster Recovery Center in
Baton Rouge to organize their transportation.
When the group arrived at the airport, they
found that only 15 Vietnamese remained, but that
there was an immense need to relocate more than
2,500 people with medical needs.
As the team returned to Baton Rouge with 340 of
the sick and injured, the uncertainty of the
journey and concern for the fate of those left
behind turned to hope when they passed as many
as one hundred buses headed toward the airport.
By the next day the impasse had been broken and
nearly all of the medical patients had been
transported from the make-shift facilities at
the baggage terminal to the field hospital.
The group’s efforts were spearheaded by Catholic
Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans chief
executive officer Jim Kelly, who himself was
displaced from his home by Hurricane Katrina’s
onslaught. Kelly was supported by former CRS
executive and IOCC consultant Frank Carlin, Rev.
Fr. Peter-Michael Preble of the Romanian
Orthodox Archdiocese of America, head of
disaster response for CRS Pat Johns, IOCC
disaster response team member Leonidas
Kapetanakis and Rev. Fr. Pham a Roman Catholic
priest and medical doctor.
In addition to the evacuation, the interfaith
effort is warehousing and distributing relief
arriving to Baton Rouge. Hygiene items, oral
electrolyte solutions for children and adults,
diapers, water, food, blankets and hygiene kits
have been provided by the collective efforts of
the group.
“This is an incredibly inspirational ecumenical
effort here in Baton Rouge,” said Frank Carlin,
a former CRS executive with 37 years of domestic
disaster and international relief and
development experience who is working with the
IOCC Emergency Response Team and Catholic
Charities. “In addition to the convoy, we are
providing ongoing aid to those who have been
displaced from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
and filling gaps in services.”
Contributions to IOCC’s Hurricane Disaster
Response Fund may be sent to IOCC, “Hurricane
Relief,” P.O. Box 630225, Baltimore, MD
21263-0225. Donations may also be made online at
www.iocc.org or by calling toll-free
1-877-803-IOCC (4622).
Founded in 1992, IOCC is the official
humanitarian aid agency of the Standing
Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the
Americas (SCOBA). Catholic Charities in the
United States started in New Orleans and has
been helping clothe, feed, educate and care for
the needy for decades. CRS, founded in 1943 by
the Catholic Bishops of the United States, is
the official international relief and
development agency of the US Catholic community.
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