Today was the first day of work for our new volunteers. Eight of our volunteers worked through the Department of Health and Hospitals. Two worked in the FEMA Joint Field Office doing physicals. They reported being very busy, and their supervisor called me begging for them to return tomorrow. So tomorrow I am sending four doctors there with three PA students.

The other six who worked with DHH rode in ambulances with one nurse each going house to house, checking on the health of residents in the areas around Covington and Mandeville. One is overnighting there tonight, and three others are returning there tomorrow to continue.

Doctor Wallace and a nurse traveled with a military convoy up to the little town of Angie, and checked up on a clinic there. They found that the doctor and nurses were doing well, but were low on medications, so a list was made for a supply run tomorrow. On the return trip, they stopped by the town of Pine, and found an opportunity and a need to set up a clinic there. So tomorrow we are sending an RV with a crew of doctors and nurses to stay there. If they determine that it's a safe place for them, they will remain overnight and continue in the morning; otherwise, they will return to Walker.

We have found a number of other needs for doctors and nurses, and have had to say "not now" to some, not for lack of desire to serve, but from a lack of available personnel. 178 Later in the week, we may start taking a hard look at these opportunities.

We still have our sights set on helping the people of Mississippi, and are trying to work out arrangements to get license approval for our professionals. We plan to send a scout team into the state by Wednesday to be our eyes and ears on the ground there. Hopefully we will be able to develop another arm of this project to help those folks, many of whom have lost everything.

An amusing (and a bit troubling) thing happened today, that demonstrates what often happens in "emergency" situations. We got a call at DHH from the director of our largest shelter here, saying that there had been an outbreak of diarrhea, and 178 of the residents were affected. This would be a serious problem if it were true, so I picked up the phone and called a nurse I had assigned to this shelter. She reported that only one baby had diarrhea, and that it had it before arriving at the shelter. So I reduced my concern. Shortly thereafter, the same manager called back and again stated that there was a big diarrhea problem. In response, Rene drove over to check things out personally. It turns out that our intelligence from our nurse was accurate, and the whole scare was unfounded (except for the unfortunate mother of the unfortunate kid whose diaper was requiring frequent attention). While Rene was there, he did a thorough assessment of the shelter's public health situation and made some recommendations for improvement, hopefully reducing the chance of an outbreak.

My level of energy remains low, as I've not had a restful sleep of an adequate length in quite a few days. There are many things to keep up with, and it's a growing experience for me, but like any growing experience, the growth doesn't come without discomfort. While I've spent my fair share of time complaining about some of the issues here, I'm actually very thankful for the chance to be right here where, even though I'm not directly touching patients, I am able to coordinate the help of so many people for so many more.

This day, while busy, has been a very good day. While there were stressors, there were none that were untenable. I enjoyed working with the folks at OEP, and they're warming to me. I have found that every person I've worked with here from the local area has been truly friendly, freely accommodating, and warm. If I weren't so attached to Tennessee, I could see myself drawn to this area. The lushness of the vegetation is remarkable. I find that the environment here reminds me at times of scenes in a John Grisham book.