More Iowans are headed to Louisiana to help with hurricane cleanup. Nearly 100 soldiers and healthcare professionals will head to the badly-flooded region, and National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Greg Hapgood says they’ll bring gear with them. They’ll tote along nine electrical generators capable of delivering 30 and 60 kilowatts, and one that puts out 200-thousand watts that’s to be sent to the SuperDome to provide backup power where hundreds of storm victims took refuge. The equipment’s coming from Air Guard bases in Sioux City and Fort Dodge, and soldiers will go along to keep them running. There are about 35 soldiers and trucks assembled into a medium-truck platoon. Louisiana called to say they need that help, specifically machines tall enough to get through the deep water without stalling and move people or things as quickly as possible. Iowa Public Health Division Administrator Director Mary Jones says they hope to have a team of thirty health professionals on-site by Friday. Two will be doctors, she says, ten of them nurses, 10 paramedics, 2 respiratory therapists and half a dozen are environmental-health specialists. Jones says that team will provide health care to families displaced by the storms and flooding. Many may have pre-existing medical conditions, chronic problems like asthma, diabetes, so heart conditions. In the shelters their individual needs may not be met and pills likely were left at home when they evacuated, so this team will do triage to determine who needs what care and get it to them. Jones hopes the team can be ready to leave by Friday, and says they’ll stay for two weeks.Governor Tom Vilsack says Iowa also stands ready to field requests for emergency aid from Alabama and Mississippi, also hit hard by the hurricane this week. The governor cautioned Iowans moved by the scenes of disaster not to try sending individual gifts. Vilsack advises Iowans to rely in organizations like the Iowa Red Cross, which have expertise and know what kind of thing people need in situations like this. “The last thing people down there need are care packages coming from Iowa without any regard to what the specific needs might be.”
