Shokufeh is... home

Going to Lord & Taylor

Yesterday, my dad tumbled off his bike and hurt his wrist in the process of trying to catch himself. Today, I took him to Lord & Taylor.

The connection? New Orleans has a dearth of medical care, especially urgent care. So at some point, maybe a few months ago, medical tents were set up at the Convention Center, for the purpose of providing urgent care in a city lacking emergency rooms. A few weeks ago, that "medical facility" was closed, and one was opened at what used to be Lord & Taylor at New Orleans Centre. Strange to speak of seeking care at a department store. There were large cubicles set up, housing triage, the lab, a couple of other departments. Registration and Medicaid were in smaller multiple booths. X-Ray and Social Work were in former store rooms and dressing rooms. The former men's department was the main emergency department - occupied by a large mobile hospital tent, containing thirteen beds. Large potted plants, likely from the still-closed mall, were scattered throughout. I was able to entertain MrMan by standing in front of the mirrored columns, the same ones I use to stand in front of to see how clothes looked against me.

(Free) Parking was in the Superdome parking lot. Driving in was the second time I've gotten the heebie jeebies since being in New Orleans. The first time was in the parking lot of Memorial Medical Center, when I was taking MrMan to the pediatrician. Besides being parking lots, both places have in common that they were associated with highly publicized human suffering during the storm and have not been transformed into sparkly shiny newness.

...
This evening, we drove through some of the harder hit areas of town. I saw a two foot high wall of silt in someone's yard, close to a levee breach. Among the various devestated houses we passed, one of the images that sticks with me is that of a house that appeared not to have been visited since the storm and had all of its contents in a jumble, visible through the open door and windows.