DISPATCH FROM THE FRONT

Greg Henderson, a pathologist, was attending an HIV/AIDS medical convention in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit the city. He remained behind after shipping his family to safety in Jackson, Miss. Henderson then managed to send this message to a friend via the Internet. Here it is, slightly edited:

I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2PM. I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited Internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast.

The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that are admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant.

Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access [the area]. We are still waiting for a significant National Guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. ... We have commandeered the world-famous French Quarter Bar to turn [it] into a makeshift clinic. There is a team of about 7 doctors and PA and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and full of water. We basically scooped entire drug sets into garbage bags and removed them. All under police escort. The looters had to be held back at gun point. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

We have set up a hospital in the French Quarter Bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. ... We are anticipating dealing with multiple medical problems, medication [needs] and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are imminent.

The biggest question to all of us is, where is the National Guard? We hear jet fighters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army. ... We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. ... The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuild will [take]. And the horror of so many dead people.

PLEASE SEND THIS TO ALL YOU THINK MAY BE INTERESTED IN A DISPATCH FROM THE FRONT. ... By the way, suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a M.A.S.H.

The message was forwarded to us by Clayton Patterson, an artist, photographer, editor, documentary filmmaker and community activist who lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side and was recently profiled in The New York Times. Patterson's latest project, "Captured," has just been published by the Seven Stories. Here's a review.

-- Tireless Staff of Thousands