Our mission to deliver medicine to the temporary medical facilities on the coast was a great success.  We were able to get through most areas and   take a few pictures (attached) however no pictures were allowed to be taken inside the clinical areas.

Our first stop was at Coast Episcopal in Long Beach (previously a school) we were greeted here by Pastor Janet Ott who served us Communion that was a wonderful greeting!!!  We also met the nurse in charge, Jennifer; she is married to Pastor David, who is the Priest of St Patrick’s Church. (Their church was so badly destroyed that there is nothing left but a slab.)  It is here that there was a desperate need for antibiotics, antihypertensives, topical steroids, tetanus and more.  Thanks to Dr. Susan Andrews who donated two huge bags of medicine, along with a   nebulizer, we were able to provide  them with exactly what they needed …and a lot more (with the exception of Tetanus and HBV Vaccines). They had plenty of doctors, nurses, and two pharmacists and they even had a respiratory therapist. After seeing this we felt very confident that all the victims here were definitely receiving excellent medical assistance.

 Our second stop was Pineville Elementary in Long Beach, which was also a distribution point,   here volunteers (not Red Cross or FEMA)   were handing out supplies and they were in need of first aid supplies that we happened to have in abundance. They were very appreciative. We did not get pictures at this contact point. –It all happened so fast.

 Our third stop was a first aid station / distribution center (not sure what town) made up of tents. Here a team of doctors and nurses from an Arizona Community were camping out and providing needed   medical care to these areas that were not accessible.  (Thanks to Jim’s insurance pass we were able to get here) The nurses here were so grateful to receive the remaining   first aid supplies and other miscellaneous supplies.

 We also ran into a team of nurses from Florida Emergency Response who   explained that they were not needed in the established clinical sites so they were going out into the rural areas, house to house, assessing and caring for the needs of the victims.

 Gulfport and Biloxi had a few military and Red Cross stations set up at different locations we did not have contact sites here.

 And our last stop was at Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs, where we spoke to the nurses and the nurse practitioner about the needs here. This was a very busy place –we never got to speak to the Pastor or person in charge but the nurse did tell us that tetanus and Inhaler type medicine is still needed.

 We are trying to order some tetanus with the donations received.

Thank you to all of our physicians, and volunteers who donated medicine, time and advice.     

Thank you Pastor Clark and Susan for the directions and MEMA pass.

Jim & Judy Groff

Members of Ascension Lutheran Church and supporters of Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response