Emetsin the Astrodome?

[aguerra29]

I absolutely cannot imagine how horrible it would be to be in the Astrodome with this Phobia. Here in Houston they talk about all the sick kids with SV. They have also said that volunteers have gotten sick. My husband and I were going to volunteer, but now I don't know. I feel bad for those people, but not bad enough to get sick. I know, that makes me heartless.

[japa]

Last night, local news reported that the Norwalk outbreak in the Astrodome is "under control." That many people in one place all crowded together ... not a good thing for disease or rather the disease loves it because it gets to spread.


I am signed on to volunteer at the George R. Brown Convention Center in the upcoming month. Only a couple of thousand are there, though there is probably still a lot of germs.

[bexcelica]

you know what i think i would feel the same way. the reason i dont do
many things like volunteer and stuff (im going to hell for saying this)
is because i am afraid of getting sick. we definitly have a disorder,
and we dont do it on purpose. i think it would be better if someone who
wasnt worried as much as us to go there and help because they would
help a lot more than we would. i dont mean this in ANY offense. i just
mean, if someone down there v*, and there were two people to help, and
emet and a nonemet, i assume the nonemet would be much more helpful
than the emet. you knw what im saying? i dont mean any offense, im sure
you would be a big help down there.

[murphy]

None of us are heartless. We have a real condition and if we were to try to volunteer, getting sick is all we would worry about. Someone would need to help us. We wouldn't be any good for any of them. I have donated a number of times. That helps also. Murphy

[2jo2]

We all help in the ways that our hearts pull us. It's ok if you can't volunteer by being physically there serving meals orhelping people out... Something that is close to my heart is animals, and I've donated money to Noah's Wish, an organization that rescues animals after a disaster like this. I live way up in North Dakota, so it's not logistically possible for me to go and volunteer, but you have to do what's close to your heart and what is physically possible for you to do, whatever that may be. Don't be hard on yourself for not being able to do certain things. You have sympathy in your soul, and that's what matters.


On the subject of emets having to stay there in the shelters, I thought about that and tried to put myself in that situation, and it's one I can't even wrap my mind around. Can you imagine it? Staying in a place where there are dead bodies, no place to go to the bathroom for days? It's horrendous. Disgusting. It's something that no one should have to experience. And to put emet in the mix... ugh.

[chicajojobe]

Well this makes me feel a little better about what happened this weekend.



All the students got an email from the president of the university's
office saying that the fitness center (which is huge) was going to be
closed to become a Red Cross shelter for refugees from Louisiana and
one of my first worries was would they bring more disease to campus. I
mean just being in a place like a large college campus where there are
so many people normally is bad enough in my book.



I felt like such a bitch. They had lost everything and I was worrying
about stomach bugs. I decided that overall I am glad that we can help
them if possible but I'll still probably avoid the fitness center and
the buidlings around it.



I still feel bad though. Like I deserve to get a SV for being selfish like that.

[snowangel]

I was thinking about that too...I feel selfish for thinking let that but cannot control my mind sometimes...
I hope and pray for good health with all those suffering from Hurricaine Katrina

[bexcelica]

i hear it. we shouldnt feel bad though.



i do feel bad saying it but when i heard there were disease outbreaks, the first thing i thought of was "will it come up here?"



this is just the way we think, and the way we feel. and we cant help
the way we feel. we arent evil and arent bad people because its not
like we're wishing them harm, or laughing at their misfortunes, we all
wish we could help but cant because we are afraid.

[murphy]

It's the first thing that would occur to me also. We can't help it.

[japa]

aguerra - Well, I am glad that I am volunteering at George R. Brown then because the shifts there are only six hours serving the meals. I am scheduled for next Friday from 4-10.


They said on the news tonight that Star of Hope needs people to sort the donations that they have. They are not accepting anymore donations for 30 days because they have several (5??) warehouses full, but they need sorters. I might try calling there as well. That would be a relatively low disease risk.

[madisonsmom]

The Board of Nursing called me to go down there to help out. I would love to but cant since I have small children. I cant imagine.


Boy...Norwalk is kicking in early this year!

[shiva]

Japa,


It's awesome that you are going to help.

[shiva]

Early on when they were talking about raw sewage and waste being everywhere while they were trying to evacuate people, I figured that something like that would happen where there would be an outbreak of illness. That coupled with the countless people crammed into one area, I am not suprised.


I dunno.. I think that if it were me, the emet would be the last of my problems. I know that is hard to comprehend, but think about it... everything you have is gone, you can't find your husband or kids... f*** it, I don't think puke would effect my mind at that point.


But as far as volunteering goes, I wish I had the means to go help. When it came down to it, I don't know if I could anyway. I think it's really awesome though to see how many people ARE helping. It's all just so terrible.

[aguerra29]

Japa,
The sorting of donations sounds like a good way for me to get involved. I'll look into it. I don't remember who posted it, but I too, love animals and my heart breaks to see all those abandoned animals. I would never be able to leave my bub-bub. Is there a website to donate to that Noah's place?
I told my husband I wanted to go down to the Astrodome and find someone who was an EMET and take them home with us. They are going through so much already, to put Emet on top of that. I cannot imagine.
I know that we may all sound selfish or heartless, but we DO care. We just can't help the way other could help. It's not like we wish bad things for them.

[2jo2]

If anyone's interested, Noah's Wish is an animal disaster organization and their website is www.noahswish.org and you can make donations directly from the website through paypal. The Humane Society is also great, as is the ASPCA. Those websites are www.hsus.org and www.aspca.org and they allow you to make donations directly from the website. The vet med college at LSU is also taking in alot of animals and helping and they take donations too. www.vetmed.lsu.edu

[mjewell]

The ASPCA is also rescuing a tremendous amount of animals, hundreds daily, and trying to reunite them with owners. I donated to them. You can also read updates on theor website that will make you feel a LOT better, about how much success they are having rescuing animals.

[cmatijevich]

I can definately relate to this topic. My husband is in the navy and volunteered to go help out. He hasnt been sent yet but i got very angry with him for volunteering. I know it is selfish because people need help but i don't want him getting sick and bringing it to us and i also think he has plenty of time to be deployed so why is he volunteering to leave me (i hate the thought of him going away for long periods of time because we have a young daughter and i am afraid of dealing with her getting s* alone [img]smileys/smilies_06.gif[/img]). He doesnt even know that is the reason why i am so angry. I'm afraid he will think i am horrible.