A local doctor and his wife who were on their honeymoon in New Orleans quickly went from vacation mode to that of emergency volunteers.
Dr. Thuong Vo works at Greece's Park Ridge Hospital. He and his wife, Stephanie Tran, were married in June and went to the Big Easy for a delayed getaway.
As soon as they realized a hurricane was heading for New Orleans, the couple tried to get out. But no flights, rental cars or busses were available.
So they bought water and food at convenience stores, and joined the thousands at the superdome.
The doctor quickly realized people needed his help.
"They were passing out left and right, we saw police officers trying to care for them,” Dr. Thoung Vo said. “I told a lieutenant, ‘I can help you guys’. That's when I started triaging and helping out." Over the next few days people with health problems flooded into Dr. Vo's makeshift emergency room for some “survival medicine.”
Diabetics didn't have insulin, and Dr. Vo didn't have enough needles.
"By Tuesday there were no syringes left. I had five syringes for insulin. And you know, we do what we can. We share."
“We tell people, ‘this is your choice. This is what we're working with. If you agree to it we go for it.’"
Stephanie became a patient herself. She'd worked along Dr. Vo’s side for days, pregnant and dehydrated.
"I was flown out in a Helicopter,” Tran said. “My husband, the only reason he got to go is because he's a doctor to look after patients. We landed on an expressway."
After getting an I.V. at a shelter in Baton Rouge, they managed to get a ride to the airport and fly to Syracuse.
Dr Vo is glad he had the chance to help a few people, but thinks about the many that remain.
"We have a place to go home, to a community that cares about us. These are the folks who don't know when they'll go home, if there is a home to go home to."
Let's look at what these people did. Like thousands of others they were trapped and homeless.
Did they riot? Did they loot? Did they work their asses off helping other people, risking their own health?
Remember that the next time someone excuses the looters' behavior down there.
