New Orleans people still need assistance

To the editor:

On Oct. 7 of this year, we got the horrible news that Southern California was covered with flames. During those wildfires, more than 500,000 acres burned, 14 people died, and almost 100, included firemen, were injured.

The response from the government was fast and directed towards the problem. Thousands of soldiers were sent in, relief supplies were disbursed for those affected by the wildfires, nearly 1 million Americans were evacuated from their houses, etc. Although there were fatalities, the government was on top of its game, and was able to stop anything worse from happening.

Now, let’s travel to the other extreme of this country; the Gulf Coast; more specifically New Orleans.

Hurricane Katrina brought this city to its knees, and it has been kept there for two years now. I don’t have the space in this letter, and you probably don’t have the time to listen to everything that is going on in the city of jazz, beignets, and the Hornets.

I’ll give you an example. Before Katrina, there were 240 psychiatric hospital beds in Orleans Parish district. Now, there are only 30.

Patients suffering from mental illnesses are being rejected from hospitals due to the lack of facilities for them. Some families are even being forced to try to come up with ways to put their ill relatives in jail, since the Parish Prison has over 60 adult psychiatric beds for ill inmates.

Matt Roberts, an English teacher at Walter Cohen High, had to quit after one year of trying to help with the recovery of the city. He quit after teaching classes for several months with little or no school supplies and no computers.

Things weren’t any easier for him at home either, as he had to bathe his kid from a kitchen pot because their home had no hot water.

Think you have no more time read this? Finish reading; turn the page, read the sports. Go to class, you are probably late already. Go home, study for the finals. The same applies for the government. Take care of the economic debt we are in. Help the people in Southern California. Try to come up with solutions for illegal immigration, terrorism, poverty, and global warming.

Do what you need to do, but don’t forget about things that are not yet fixed.

New Orleans still needs our help, and they are hoping that we haven’t forgotten them. There are several organizations and websites created to help with the misery that thousands of people in New Orleans are going through.

Just because Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a couple of years ago, that doesn’t mean that we should stop thinking about them.

—Cristian Sirera Salvador
Business Major