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Kincaid said that most
of those coming to the clinic are in need of meds.
"Some people fled New Orleans without their
medication others are running out of what they had,"
Kincaid said.
In the case of HAART
drugs patients will need to be tested again.
Kincaid said that the state of Texas health
department has been particularly helpful speeding up
the testing process. "We using the Oraquick test so
we get the results almost immediately," he said.
Drug companies have
also been helping, providing meds at reduced cost or
in some cases free. But, even so, the clinic can
barely keep up with the demand for help.
Even getting medical
records for the evacuees is virtually impossible.
Phone lines are down in the hurricane zone and the
whereabouts of patients' doctors is often unknown.
What only a few days
ago were rooms filled with clothing, personal
products, toiletries and other items - all donated
by Houston's gay community - are now almost empty.
"What comes in in the
morning in pretty well gone by noon," Kincaid said.
"And the need is only going to get bigger as more
and people learn the services are available and as
time wears on."
At the Montrose
Counseling Center, where a data base of people
willing to share their homes was begun as soon as
the gay community learned the evacuees were heading
their way, almost every space is filled.
The number of LGBT
people and PWAs still at the Astrodome is not known,
but a new, potentially deadly problem arose
Thursday: cholera.
Several cases of the
disease were diagnosed Thursday. It is particularly
dangerous with people living with HIV/AIDS.
"We're giving people
tetanus shots on a case by case basis," Kincaid
said.
On top of cholera
there are other health concerns for the evacuees who
had to tread through floodwaters to leave New
Orleans.
The floodwaters are
thick with sewage-related bacteria in amounts at
least 10 times higher than acceptable safety limits.
The muck is believed to contain E. coli, certain
viruses and a type of cholera-like bacteria.
The bacteria are
feared to have migrated to crowded shelters. Four
deaths - one in Texas, three in Mississippi - have
been attributed to infected wounds, said Tom
Skinner, spokesman for the Centers for Disease
Control.
Anyone who come in
contact with the floodwaters is being advised to
scrub up with soap and water. At the Astrodome there
were long lines Thursday to use the limited number
of showers available.
And, as the grim
reality sets in that this will not be a temporary
evacuation, the Montrose Counseling Center is
beginning to prepare for the holidays.
"When people see the
holidays approach in another month we expect too see
the need for counseling to increase," Sally Huffer
told 365Gay.com.
"It will be
particularly hard for people who still may not know
the fate of family and friends."
For evacuee Jack
Carrel it's a matter of "taking one day at a time.
Carrel is board member of the New Orleans Community
Center and an employee of the Office of Public
Health, said people "need to get a sense of
structure back into their lives."
"Be strong," he tells
other evacuees. "As quick as you can connect with
other members of the gay community in Houston. And
get ready to go back to New Orleans. When this
nightmare is all over we need you to help rebuild
New Orleans".
Meanwhile, law
enforcement officials want people to be on the
lookout for scams in the wake of the Hurricane
Katrina disaster.
Paul Moskal of the
FBI's Buffalo Field Division says the agency has
found a number of illegitimate web sites popping up
since the storm, with so-called phishing and
spoofing scams.
Moskal says people
should use common sense when donating their money.
He says people should be very leery of solicitations
by e-mail or telephone from anyone they haven't had
contact with before.
Moskal says if people
suspect they are being scammed, they should call the
police or the local office of the FBI, or contact
the bureau through the website www.IC3.gov.
Moskal says the FBI
has noted over 2-thousand websites posted for
Katrina relief efforts in the past week alone.
©365Gay.com 2005 |
