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Hundreds Wait for Free Care in La.
Sunday January 28, 2007 11:31 PM
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Hundreds of people still without health insurance in areas hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina lined up before dawn Sunday for the start of a weeklong event offering free medical care.
Bundled up against the chilly wind, people began arriving at 2 a.m. outside the tents and doublewide trailers offering free care in eastern New Orleans. By the time the first 50 had been called into the registration tent, they numbered in the hundreds.
Penny Anderson, her daughter, and three small grandchildren came to see a dentist. ``My daughter went online to try to get health insurance for me and my husband,'' she said. ``It was $799 a month! That's a house note!''
The health fair is open to anyone from the greater New Orleans area, but is specifically aimed at those who no longer have insurance, are unemployed or who otherwise cannot pay for regular health care. By the end of the week, 10,000 patients are expected to be seen.
The project is a collaboration by Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing International and Remote Area Medical, which organizes volunteer medical treatment in remote parts of the United States and the world.
While most people wouldn't consider New Orleans remote, the city is, ``since Hurricane Katrina, extremely remote from a medical and health care infrastructure,'' said Karen Wilson, executive director of the Remote Area Medical Foundation.
More than 400 health care workers have volunteered for the health fair, including doctors, dentists and specialists. Services include free prescriptions; dental fillings and teeth cleanings; eye exams and glasses; and specialized care, including pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, diabetic care and cardiology.
Couple in for kidney transplants. One or two for AIDS treatments. Another half-dozen looking for abortions. Hundred or so scopin' on some VD treatment. A gender reassignment claim. Face lift. Butt tuck. Lipo ...
Come one, come all. The taxpayer's footin' the bill.
What does this have to do with Hurricane Katrina? That was a year and a half ago, for God's sake.
No - this is a privately funded charity venture run by that evangelist liberals love to hate - Pat Robertson. He's putting his money where his mouth is and helping Katrina victims out of Christian love. Not that the Left will ever appreciate it.
Well, I salute Pat Robertson, but I believe his compassion is misplaced. I also think he'd better lock up the pharmacy when he leaves for the night.
One thing is sure about New Orleans." If there is a Freebie they will come."
Where's the Cheese.?
Well, good health care is always remote when those who demand it don't have any means to pay for it, and have no intention of making good faith payments for services rendered.
Are they doing this in Mississippi?
Lots of poor folks, black and white, were savaged by Katrina in Mississippi, as well as Alabama, and the rest of Louisiana along with parts of Texas and Florida.
Why does the only the ghetto population of New Orleans get the medias attention?
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