Comment about New Orleans and Ray Nagin, the Mayor...sm

I just read below that a lot of you believe that Ray Nagin is a "hero" for speaking his mind, etc.  My DH just told me this morning that he read the evacuation plans for New Orleans and what the city and its leaders (Nagin being the main leader) were supposed to do in the event of a hurricane, flood, etc.  The manual stated that ALL public transportation was to be used to but the elderly, sick, poor, and those unable to get out to higher ground until the storm or catastrophe passed.  He did not do that. He got on tv and told those to get out. No public transportation or school buses were used to get these people out. 

I hate to judge, but I just cannot help but think that this guy is all talk and no action?  I don't know, sure does sound like it to me.  I too thought he was awesome, until my husband explained the evacuation procedures and how the city did nothing but warn of people to get out - and did not help them....

I know, sounds like the blame game and I am sorry if it sounds like I'm blaming.  I just can't help but state this when now the facts are coming to light.

• Comment about New Orleans and Ray Nagin, the Mayor...sm - Dancin Shoes
  • Nagin of New Orleans, no hero - suzyd
  • Nagin - JAG
  • manual - msbeanctr
  • I've recently heard a LOT about corruption in NO as well, - not from NO or LA
  • Did your husband know that the plans the mayor of NO used - kle
  • New Orleans - sienna
  • Also, wondering if people trust him...sm - HomeMT
    • put yourself in his shoes - - msbeanctr
      • and he as mayor of that city had no responsibility at all? - Why have a mayor then?
  • We have had to endure so many of their false alarms about warnings - I blame Homeland Security
  • I'm not surprised that the media is trying to "spin" him into a hero - sm
    • If he let the tourists "buy their way out", my cousin and her friends, along with - - You have no clue
      • Maybe ALL the tourists didn't have access to the mayor - but believe me, the ones who got out paid him off
  • they did use public transportation though as part of the evacuation but housed those sm - agree with typnfool
  • Aftermath - KS
  • chilling article - msbeanctr
    • Excellent article. Here's a link to another one. - kle
  • he underestimated the damage it - would do
    • Maybe he's not qualified for the job? - nm
    • natural disaster - Just me
    • disaster - typnfool
      • Well said. - and so true. (nm)
    • I just don't understand how they underestimated this thing (sm) - FL Resident
      • That's the difference between (sm) - Lori
        • Did you know.... - kle
          • Did you know (sm) - Lori
        • Thanks for the link. Interesting. Looks like they skipped a couple of steps. (nm) - FL Resident
      • The political people knew what could happen if a hurricane hit New Orleans. sm - just my 2 cent
        • Ray Nagin is the one who showed true compassion - abc
        • it IS the mayor's fault and it IS Kathleen Blanco's fault - it's their responsibility
        • No, you are wrong - lm
          • where did the allocated money go? - abc
        • fema - msbeanctr

The messages you are viewing are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select the boards given in left menu

were the same plans that were specified by the Department of Homeland Security when they did a simulation of this disaster in the 4 years prior?  When FEMA was absorbed by the DHS, they did simulations of events like hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.  In their simulation called Hurricane Pam, which was only simulated as a category 3, they said that the only place available as a shelter in this type of storm was the Superdome.  They studied this for years.  The mayor followed their recommendations.

As far as buses being available, the mayor made the public transportation system available for free but that was only inside the city of N.O.  He can't make private sector transportation services provide free transportation OUT of the city and then, again, he could have used the public transportation and the school bus system to transport them out of the city, but to where?  These people had no money - where were they going to go?  The only option the mayor had was to use the recommendations of the DHS and house them in the Superdome.  What other city was available in Louisiana that would have housed hundreds of thousands of people in shelters designed to withstand a category 4 (possibly 5) storm?  There was none. 

There was an article published yesterday in which many administration officials described how FEMA would work since it was absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security and what the responsibilities would be if the president declared any disaster an incident of national significance.  It was an excellent article and very eye-opening.   FEMA isn't the FEMA we knew from years ago that could act independently and at a quicker pace.

My son and two other friends doing. Staying in the Cotton Exchange Hotel on Carondelet St in French Quarters. I found this on the internet (after days of searching for an opening), so I hope I have at least gotten them a decent room. Just wondering if anyone knew of this hotel and any suggestions for nice places to eat, etc. (All 20 years olds and never been there)

If so, GET THE HECK OUT! We don't want any MT's to become statistics. Hurricane is a comin'.....

I'm not familiar with that particular hotel, but I would imagine anything on Carondolet Street should be decent.  Just make sure they stick together and stay where people are.  Essence Festival is this week, so should be pretty crowded.  As in any major city, there are definitely areas they should not venture into, and I'm sure the hotel concierge can help with that, as well as restaurants (there are many  excellent restaurants in the area!).  I hope they get to experience many of the great things about this city while they are here.

Yes, I agree, I think that is not a bad wage for my area.  I work for a medical school in NOLA (hint: Go Green Wave ) as my FT job, but transcription is not my primary job.  I honestly couldn't do transcription FT every day!  My hat goes off to all who do though.

They knew they had a city under sea level. They knew the levees could only withstand a Category 3 hurricane. They had three days to get enough food and water into the Superdome.

Need I go on?

Please also check borderline personality disorder on the internet.  True bipolar has fairly long periods of either mania or depression and cycles.  Bipolar is more ongoing pervasive personality of poor coping skills and conflicted interpersonal interactions.

My advice is to realize there is probably nothing you can do to help them or change them other than altering the way YOU deal with THEM for the good of your own mental health!

Not sure why you needed the computer as I am assuming you already had a computer and the equipment?  Most computers with fairly new Windows system would work okay.  I personally feel the rental fee is kind of a bad idea in the long run at $48.00 a month.  Sounds like you may need a phone line again unless you can get wireless.  You'll have to talk to tech, I guess.

As far as learning and training, are you on DQS? 

Hayseed, Aren't you the gal who did 1700 lines in 6 hours or something like that?  In that case, it's likely you wouldn't have any problem making their quota.  But, how about that hourly rate?  Will they be saving money by putting you on hourly, will you be making more money than when you were doing MT work?  Ask for all the details in writing, would be my advice.  Ask them to also state, in writing, if you can return to MT if you don't like QA.  Congratulations and good luck!!

This is a good solution; it puts it in their face, so to speak.  I've heard that people have to hear or see something an average of 3 times before it sinks in.  If they receive no feedback, they think everything is okay or totally horrible, depending on their own point of view (this is for all people in all aspects of life; I suspect that doctors will just assume that everything is okay).  If they receive negative feedback with a smile, they tend to believe that improvement is optional.  A more dramatic, serious approach is necessary. 

My situation may be a little bit different from yours, but you are not alone, and ER reports seems to be the main star.

I don't have any answers, but I'm kind of in the same boat with you.  I have been working on an account that has all worktypes.  I begin working very early in the morning, when I might be the only one working on this account.  The ER reports supposedly have top priority, right after the stat reports.  My problem is that lately I've noticed that once I complete all stat reports and am getting to the good stuff--the ER reports, whoever is managing the queue changes the priority of the more difficult OP reports and consultations, so that they float to the top of the queue, above the ER reports.  This maneuver would sometimes make sense, but the account specs are such that the ER reports have top priority. 

So, then, it takes several more hours to get to the ER reports, at which time there are so many workers on board that I end up getting 1 or 2 ER reports.  I've lately gone from making over $22/hour to a mere $7/hr.  I feel like I've been messed with, simply because I really got used to the account the way it used to be and now someone has come along and purposely made it more difficult for me.  I have the option of signing off, changing my hours, or going elsewhere.  I do have another interview pending after successfully completing the testing at another company.  I know that the grass is not always greener, but there is a limit to what type of treatment that I will tolerate.

I agree with you. 

This situation seems to be the end result of long years of MTs trying to do their best, while plugging along and accepting the treatment of the facilities, that filtered down to them through the MTSOs, who may or may not be addressing the issues of bad dictators with the facilities, for fear of losing the contracts.  I believe, it is the job of those who have direct contact with the doctors (i.e., those at the facility in the HIM dept).  According to what I have observed, they are not doing this job, and are either clueless, don't care, or enjoy this special power of oppressing the workforce from afar.  It also seems that they are not required to properly train their dictating clinicians.  Some of them are very active, however, in checking reports for proper comma use and such details, and do not hesitate to contact the MTSO to complain when the MT left out a comma, or failed to select the proper date of service on the header, failed to read the doc's mind and did not realize that when he/she coughed in a certain way, it was a clue that he/she wanted a copy sent to Dr. Joe Doe, etc.  Of course, they actually do not pay for headers and footers and they do not provide the MT with enough information to fill in all the details on the header and footer.

I have an egg timer.  I spend exactly 3 minutes trying to figure out a blank or the correct name for a doctor that requires a courtesy copy, etc.  If I cannot accomplish this in 3 minutes, given the lists that I have been provided or internet resources, the report gets a blank and it is sent to the QA department to figure it out.  Each report gets a grand total of 5 minutes for multiple look ups of blanks that are the fault of the dictator or due to me not having enough information to fill in headers, footers, consulting doctors, etc.  If it is my fault because I do not know the terminology, and the word was dictated clearly, I will take more time researching.  If the MTSO wants to address the issues of poor quality dictators/dictations with the facility, that is their choice.

If I were to have my own accounts, I would hope to have a deep pool to draw from so that I could include sanctions for such difficulties in my contract with the option of discontinuing service to those who proved to be so difficult.  However, I do not wish to be a dreamer, and don't think such deep pools exist, at least not in my part of the country, so I haven't even tried this option of having my own accounts.

I"m not sure I understand your comment, and I am not here to debate, but the account that I work on has plenty of difficult dictators, as well as plenty of easier dictators, comparatively.  My point was that you cannot depend on what type of report you will get at any given moment; there is no picking and choosing and the next in line might just change due to major shuffling.  It is not predictable by worktype either.  Whether there is plenty of work depends on how many MTs are working at the time, whatever jobs have been added to the pool, etc.  There is often no work during third shift.