NEW STROKE TREATMENTS CAN REVERSE DAMAGE

There are new drugs available that can save a stroke victim's life AND reverse most or all of the damage.

We cant verify all the content of this post but check the links at the bottom of the page for 3rd party verification. Everyone should print this and glue it to their fridge door.

We are investigating availabilty of suitable equipment to alow our medical teams to scan patients on board and administer the treatment. In the meantime, existing medical facilities in the area of concern will be surveyed for capacity to administer this life saving treatment or to upgraded.

Rick
ELM

------mailed to ELM today---------

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours, in many cases he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed and getting to the patient within 3 hours which is tough.


RECOGNIZING A STROKE - A true story

Susie is recouping at an incredible pace for someone with a
massive stroke all because Sherry saw Susie stumble - - that is
the key that isn't mentioned below -and then she asked Susie the 3
questions. So simple - - this literally saved Susie's life - -
Some angel sent it to Suzie's friend and they did just what it
said to do. Suzie failed all three so then 9-1-1 was called .

Even though she had normal blood pressure readings and did
not appear to be a stroke as she could converse to some extent
with the Paramedics they took her to the hospital right away. Thank
God for the sense to remember the "3" steps.

Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify.

Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The
stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to
recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking
three simple questions:

1. *Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. *Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
ie . It is sunny out today) If he or she has trouble with any
of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to
the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers
could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech
problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three
questions.

They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke
Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of
This test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the
Stroke and prevent brain damage.

BE A FRIEND AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH AS MANY FRIENDS AS
POSSIBLE, you could save their lives.


Here are the supporting links and extracts from some very reputable sources.
I quote drugdigest.org

"........Thrombolytics, sometimes called "clot busters," dissolve the blood clot that is blocking the flow of blood through the vessel. They are considered a first-line treatment for stroke because of their high rate of effectiveness........"

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/PrintablePages/HealthConditions/1,20041,550288,00.html

I quote the National Institute for Neurology:

"........Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) is a genetically engineered form of t-PA, a thombolytic substance made naturally by the body. It can be effective if given intravenously within 3 hours of stroke symptom onset, but it should be used only after a physician has confirmed that the patient has suffered an ischemic stroke. Thrombolytic agents can increase bleeding and therefore must be used only after careful patient screening...."

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/detail_stroke.htm

PADANG MUDSLIDES IN PICTURES

Bukit Gado2 house filled by mud and rock slide

Digging for bodies in Teluk Bayur









Windi happy to get her school package










Mud flooded this Bukit Gado2 house












Jenny Crake preparing school supply packages










Jane talking to Windi (9) who was burried for an hour.










Air Manis children manage to look clean in the midst of all the mud and debris












Air Manis Road damage















Teluk Bayur landslide 25 died.

LA POWER FAILURE SHUTS DOWN ELM WEB SITE

How Los Angeles Lost Power

The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; 12:03 AM

LOS ANGELES -- The power outage that affected more than 2 million people in and around Los Angeles on Monday was triggered by an unlikely source: A utility crew installing a system upgrade.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power workers cut several cables incorrectly, slicing the thin wires as a group, rather than one at a time, said Ed Miller, director of Power System Operations and Maintenance for the department. That triggered a short and tripped circuit breakers.

The surge in electricity to the remaining lines overloaded the system and caused a shutdown at the power receiving station where the DWP employees were working. The station converts high voltage power from area generating stations to low voltage power used by businesses and residents.

The systemwide alert prompted two generating stations and other receiving stations to shut down as well. As a result, the department began "shedding" customers, cutting power to people across the city to stabilize lines.

Media Temple announced that their back-up power also failed due to "operator error" and this shut down their entire server. Many other server companies has similar problems.

Co-incidental threats of attacks on LA and Melbourne by Al Qaeda have been declared unrelated by US security officials.

NIAS & THE N.O. CONVENTION CENTER - SING TOGETHER - A NEW FIRST RESPONDERS TACTIC

BBC News - crowd at the stadium

Birdie wrote earlier today:
I am in Los Angeles, working at Paramount Studios (the MTV/VH-1 Katrina benefit was staged there yesterday).

A few days after Katrina ROARED in the Gulf Coast....

I was at my desk at Paramount, and I had the transmission feed on, coming from the stage where they tape "The Insider" an Entertainment Tonight spin-off show. I saw footage of Harry Connick, Jr come on - and he was walking down an abandoned Canal Street in New Orleans.

It was either Wednesday or Thursday. The thousands of people who had been asked to evac to the Convention Center in downtown N.O, were now VERY hungry and thirsty and had been promised over and over that help was coming and yet, no one was showing up. They were starting to get agitated and were chanting "We Need Help!!"

I knew that there were buses getting people out of the Superdome and they COULD send buses there - but - they weren't.....I surveyed the crowd....old, women, disabled, children, hippies, mostly black and/or poor.

I quickly put it together that "the authorities" were afraid of mob scenes breaking out over anyone coming in with food/water or transport and put all on hold until they had armed escorts.

Remember the scene on - wasn't it western Nias - when, because they had been ignored for so long, the villagers were extra anxious to get supplies and a few of the men had been drinking Palm Wine - creating a bad mix - desperate and unruly?

Well....I remembered it and my attention returned to Harry Connick, jr famed New Orleans singer/performer....now alking the streets of N. O with a camera crew.

I picked up the phone and got a line right to one of the producers for "The Insider" - I told her I had just seen the Harry Connick, Jr feed come in - that I needed to get a message to him and the media crew on the ground with him. I relayed the story about the "unruly mob" in Nias, which sent the relief workers into retreat and how they were able to come back and get the villagers to sit down, and start singing their traditional songs - and that it calmed them down, and then, they were able to come back and get the aid delivered, in a orderly fashion.

She asked if the group was "Surf Aid International" and I said no, but that SAI had stayed with my friend, Rick (at ELM headquarters) and that they were involved with the same over-all group of surfers. She could have been a surfer. Anyway.....

I said that I needed Harry to get people to start singing....at The Convention Center, on the buses, at the hospitals....and she said like what? "America the beautiful?" and I said "No, "AMAZING GRACE" or traditional New Orleans songs....

Anyway, the two of us composed an email on the spot and whoosh......off it went to the team in N.O.

I was so grateful I had connected with such a SMART AWARE producer!!!

She totally got that it could help save lives....getting everyone to SIT DOWN and SING.

It would calm the crowd down but also....make them look completely non-threatening to obviously freaked out overwhelmed first responders who were hearing about gunfire, snipers, looting.....and a very large anxious crowd.

The message did get to Harry....and the media crews wound up finding nurses singing at Charity Hospital "we love you, we need you to survive" who had been tending to patients around the clock for over 5 days with power, plumbing and supplies....UNBELIEVABLE.

But more importantly, I want you all to know that "The Insider" got Aaron Neville to sing "AMAZING GRACE" as an exclusive, the very next night, and.....he performed it on the Hurricane Relief show that Harry Connick, Jr organized - as the closing song... the next day, MSNBC had a whole montage of clips that ran to Aaron's recorded version of "Amazing Grace"....and there was footage of people standing, where their church once was, maybe it was at Waveland (it was just a slab of concrete)....singing "Amazing Grace"....

A few more days went by....Faith Hill (country singer) was on the ground at a shelter and one of the evac's asked her to sing...."AMAZING GRACE" and it was run on "The Oprah" show.

I've been digging through my mails trying to find the original mails from Rick regarding the crowds in Nias and how that was handled....with the singing.

I have to tell you guys that the SIT DOWN and SING tactic NEEDS to be taught to FIRST RESPONDERS.... EVERYWHERE.

Often, that is LOCAL Law Enforcement, Red Cross, and FEMA. But, I think that the Red Cross needs to take up the charge, and, be in-charge of training not only their staff but to get the word out to police, hospital, church, and other community groups that can be in the position of being first responders.

I was only able to get through to the media and performers.

At this point....crowd control is no longer an issue, and I want to stay out of the way of what needs to be dealt with NOW...

But, I am mulling over how to proceed, in terms of getting the word out to the first responder community....maybe a call to Larry King on CNN...calls to the Red Cross....

I cannot express HOW important a TOOL for first responders this is....

Rick - if you have the original mails or more to add - please provide them so that I can forward them.

Your story needs to get to the Red Cross and FEMA.... Birdie

Thanks Birdie - (have edited your text slightly for clarity).

YOU made this happen and you probably saved a bunch of lives and a lot of pain. Amazing! See Associated Press carried a story about volunteers with bullhorns singing "Amazing Grace" to crowds waiting for transport this morning! http://www.wired.com/news/hurricane/0,2904,68833,00.html?tw=wn_story_top5
Rick

MOST AUST. TSUNAMI AID NOT REACHING ACEH

Most Australian Government tsunami aid not reaching Aceh, World Bank says

The World Bank says that only a small amount of the Australian Government's official aid for Aceh in the wake of the tsunami is actually going to the people of Aceh.

Joe Leitman, the World Bank's manager of a multi-donor trust fund for Aceh and Northern Sumatra, says the Australian Government has decided instead to fund education projects across Indonesia.

Mr Leitman says half of Australia's billion dollar donation was made up of loans, which the Indonesian Government does not specifically need for Aceh because of the amount of grant money available.

"The remainder will go to pursue broader strategic interests of the Indonesian and Australian governments throughout Indonesia," he said.

"So it's really maybe an eighth of the initial pledge that will actually go to the people of Aceh."

EMS CALL FOR BOATS TO HELP HURRICANE RESCUE EFFORTS

Posted: 12:21 p.m. ET
CNN's Fran Fifis at the New Orleans Airport

Joe Bradshaw from Kentucky EMS (on scene command for search and rescue off Interstate 10) says "we need boats." Bradshaw says 80 boats rescued 28 people on Sunday and 18 people and three dogs on Monday. He says they have plenty of medical personnel today, but only 10 boats. Their goal is to put a doctor on every boat.

Joe,

I am writing to you from Padang on the west coast of Sumatra. We have been cut off by landslides that took out our power and phones last week and have just got back on line to learn more about the hurricane aftermath in your area. Hope this gets to you but understand if you are flat out with rescue efforts.

Saw an article about your call for more boats in the news.

We faced a somewhat similar situation in the days after the Aceh tsunami.
Our solution was to hire an old floating casino (ex harbour ferry) and set it up with beach landing boats, aid and medical teams. We made sure we had a sat phone with internet connection on board to ensure good co-ordination with others.

My partner Jane and I had no previous disaster experience but we could not stand watching the big agencies and the government drag their feet while people were suffering. ELM started from nothing on the 26th of December and never had a problem keeping our ship flat out helping people. Ended up staying in Aceh and Nias for almost 5 months.

Our time in the field convinced us that boats supported by a mothership is the most effective way to bring support and keep it in place. Choppers can take out the sick and injured but you cant beat having people on the ground in boats to check every house for survivors or those in desperate need. We delivered over 650tons of aid and treated over 7,300 victims of the quakes and tsunamis. Along with our partners University Volunteers International, we have hosted over 200 volunteer aid workers to date. In a word, our concept worked very well and could be applied in other disaster areas.

From what little I can see via the internet, Florida air boats would be the best water vehicles for the job. Outboard boats are second choice but you will have a lot of prop fouling to deal with. Not sure if you can get shallow draft casino boats up rivers or canals as don't have maps and not sure of bridges down etc.

If we can help with practical advice please let me know. I am avail on my mobile number 24/7



Rick Cameron ELM Mission Co-ordinator - Padang, West Sumatra

PADANG LANDSLIDES

25 People are now confirmed dead and several are still missing in the Padang landslides. ELM are helping kids with school supplies in the area. About 25 houses have been desroyed or heavily damaged. Roads in the area are now open to light traffic, power is back on and hopefully the phone will be later today.

PADANG FLOODS

Padang has received heavy rain and subsequent flooding and landslides. Reports of up to 50 families missing in Teluk Bayur area in big landslide. The ELM headquaters and surrounding areas have lost all communications and are running on backup power. Many roads have been cut by landslides and heavy rain. Reports that one helicopter has gone down and 6 have been lost.

All ELM staff are accounted for and are okay, contact via SMS is proving the most reliable at this stage and we can be reached on +62 815 3405 9018.

MENTAWAI QUAKES JOLT VISITING TSUNAMI WARNING GROUP

Ancient chicken on a Chinese roof. In search of a new warning system

Wednesday - Two quake measuring 5.3 and 4.5 jolted Padang in the early hours of the morning. For some reason they did not trigger the normal automatic email to our server but the quakes are listed on the USGS web site today. By co-incidence ELM headquarters hosted lunch for 25 members of a UN sponsored delegation visiting Padang to discuss and review tsunami readiness in the area and to collaborate on the proposed Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system.

The group included:

Praveen Pardeshi - UN Inter-Agency Secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), Switzerland

Dr Walter Mooney - Lead Co-ordinator for USGS activities related to the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. California

Laura Kong - Director - International Tsunami Information Centre, Hawaii.

Dr Mooney shed some light on one of the mysteries that emerged after the Aceh tsunami. Many survivors mentioned a series of 3 extremely loud explosions that occurred just after the quake and before the tsunami. Some thought that underwater volanoes had erupted and others said that they thought underground gas had exploded. Dr Mooney believes that the explosions were most likely caused by a massive release of methane from ice bound compounds trapped for millenium in the depths of the ocean trenches in the vicinity of the rupture. The displacement of the sea bed and the heat released could have ignited the released gas spontaneously as the fault line ruptured.

I did not think to ask at the time but it could be possible that the explosions occurred at the sea bed or underwater and the expansion of gas may help explain the enormous scale of the tsunamis. For this to happen, Oxygen would have to be present in the gas released. It is unlikely to be the reason behind the burns we observed and the many accounts of very hot and oily black water in the second wave. Could it be possible that there was localized venting of subterranian hydrocarbon pockets heated by the stresses released by the quake?

Dr Mooney also discussed the complexity of relying on strange animal behavior as a quake precusor to watch for. He recounted visiting China where officials and scientists were very proud that they evacuated a city just before a devastating quake. Dr Mooney was observing graphs of statistics gathered prior to the quake and saw one line jump just hours before the quake hit. "Yes", the Chinese officials confirmed, "that line represents the number of chickens on the roof reported by residents in the area".

Perplexed at why chickens on the roof might be significant, Dr Mooney asked the obvious question. One Chinese official looked a little annoyed that a World class scientist would need to ask such an obvious question but he patiently explained.... "Because they were afraid of the snakes" as though he were speaking to a rather dull student.

"Snakes?" Dr Mooney was now completely lost.

The Chinese official shook his head in disbelief. "Yes, the snakes all came out of their holes because the water table rose and flooded their burrows" came the now slightly impatient reply.