Doctors Without Borders Tend to NY Storm Victims

In its first mission in the United States, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders is helping victims of superstorm Sandy which devastated much of the New York metropolitan area. In a makeshift clinic in a laundry room in Far Rockaway, a hard-hit section of Queens, doctors, nurses and medical students assess patients and help them get much needed medication.

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over 1 year ago

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US

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United States

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United States of America, New York City, New Jersey

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doctors without borders

Transcript

SHOTLIST: QUEENS, NEW YORK, NOV 9, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 1 Candice Humphrey (woman), nurse practitioner and volunteer with Doctors Without Borders (English, 15 sec): "We're seeing a lot of people who are running out of their medications. People with diabetes, type 2, HIV, high cholesterol, other chronic health conditions that are not getting the medications that they normally would be taking because their supply chain has been broken." SOUNDBITE 2 Michael Goldfarb (man), media relations manager, Doctors Without Borders USA (English, 17 sec): "There are vulnerable people here, especially people who are on the upper floors of some of these darkened towers who are unable, they're either too sick, infirm or elderly and unable to navigate through these darkened stairwells and tend to their basic and medical needs." SOUNDBITE 3 Louis Nelson (man), Rosedale resident, Queens (English, 11 sec): "I'm glad that my tenants here take advantage of it because they went through so much stress due to the hurricane. I'm glad that they came." SOUNDBITE 4 Nikole Russell (woman), Far Rockaway resident (English, 14 sec): "Doctors Without Borders, Red Cross, we love you, we thank you, we appreciate what you have done for all the tenants. And what you're about to do, because you've got to come back tomorrow too. Thank you, we love you." + 2:40 of footage at the Doctors Without Borders clinic in Far Rockaway and in the Rockaways, Queens - Woman gets evaluated by a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders - Doctors Without Borders volunteer fills out a form - Volunteer holds out a bottle of pills - Woman gets her blood pressure taken - Shauvan Nichols (in the baseball cap, getting blood pressure taken) and her niece - Nurse practitioner Candice Humphrey writes in a notebook - People in the Rockaways, Queens rummage through donated items left outside a church - NYU Medical student Steffen Haider takes the blood pressure of Louis Nelson - Haider and Nelson say goodbye - Outside the door of the clinic, where a "laundry room hours" sign is posted ----------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT: US-weather-storm,WRAP New York tries out fuel rationing, power returns NEW YORK, Nov 9, 2012 (AFP) - New York City began its first day of fuel rationing Friday but there was relief for tens of thousands of people who got back electricity disrupted during superstorm Sandy. Rationing was ordered in response to massive lines at gas stations, with cars carrying odd numbered license plates allowed to fill up on odd-numbered dates and even plates on even days. Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged in a radio interview that he didn't know if the scheme, already in place in New Jersey, would bring relief. "There's no guarantee that odd/even is going to make a big difference. It's certainly not going to make for more gas," Bloomberg said. "In New Jersey, there is some evidence that the lines were shorter." The US Department of Energy said that electricity outages were being steadily reduced, although power companies say that some neighborhoods will remain in the dark for many days to come because flood damage was so severe. According to the latest figures, 434,140 homes and businesses remained without power across the region, down from 761,418 late Thursday and about 60,000 less than earlier Friday. In New York State alone, the number was 201,865, or three percent of the total number of customers in the state. That was down from 343,211 customers on Thursday. The Energy Department said that 28 percent of gas stations in the New York area still did not have fuel, but that this was down from 38 percent two days ago. There was another glimmer of light for New York's transport system, with officials announcing the partial reopening of subway service to the Rockaways neighborhood on Sunday, as well as a temporary ferry service to the area, which was particularly hard hit during the storm. Bloomberg, meanwhile, told a press conference that efforts to get people back into damaged homes were accelerating. Public housing buildings that lost power during Sandy will nearly all "have the lights back on tonight or tomorrow. And by the middle of next week, all but a handful should also have heat and hot water," he said. However, in isolated, tight-knit Rockaways, 40,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark. President Barack Obama said he would visit New York on Thursday.