disaster – DiabetesDad

Hurricane Sandy hit with a fury of which the likes have never been seen here on Long Island.

Our neighbors in New Jersey, Staten Island, Queens, NYC, and parts of Connecticut were also hugely hit by this incredibly unforgiving storm.

The flow of water connected bay to ocean and literally cut Fire Island into further Islands that if the Army Corp of Engineers cannot fix, will have a life-long impact on Long Island’s mainland. Friends and neighbors alike have been crushed by the force….so many of us are doing what we can to help.

In all of this, as far as those with diabetes, something was missing.

As many people know, I have been very active in hurricane relief when it comes to getting diabetes supplies to some sort of boots-on-the-ground force helping others. In many cases it is with members of LIONs International who literally are in every part of the world imaginable.

In some cases we were able to get hundreds of people diabetes supplies to last them for some time until a recovery could be made.

In the horrible aftermath with many deaths, the one call that did not come was the need for diabetes supplies. Many people in the online community, great as they all are, reached out to me to ask; “What are the needs?” But interestingly enough with the amount of hospitals in existence on Long Island and in the tri-state area; much medical needs were tended to and taken care of fairly quickly.

SO many sources came back to me stating, as far as diabetes supplies, we are doing okay and no urgent needs have been requested.

The place is a wreck and will take a long time to recover; at least the need for diabetes supplies was not on a crucial must need basis…….a bullet gladly dodged; this time.

Thanks to all who inquired.

I’m a diabetesdad.

Two weeks.

The most important lesson I have learned recently is that so much can happen in two weeks. To the hundreds of people who wrote to me and wanted to know how we were doing I both; thank you for caring, and apologize for not getting back to you sooner.

I will not go into every detail here but to say we are all okay, although for a while we hadn’t heard from the kids out in the storm working with the fire department and ambulance–that was some of the worst times. Some of their colleagues were not so lucky and one, in particular, we pray for who stopped to help people in one car and was hit by another; we await word of that recuperation.

Damage is at a minimum for us and all trees fell all around the house and not on it. Our neighbors were not so lucky. It was a two weeks that we will remember for a lifetime; where the second worst storm to hit the United States fell upon us, an election was held, gas is being rationed, power is still out for many, 30 million gallons of water had to be pumped from NYC’s midtown tunnel, power was lost, there was an attempt to steal our generator in the middle of the night, many friends are cleaning up all around the tri-state area, we visited some incredible people in the UK for the CWD UK conference, stopped for a little bit to visit some places new to us, and our return trip that was supposed to be nonstop from London to New York had to emergency land in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a passenger who had a severe hypoglycemic reaction (more on that in a later article). A very long two weeks.

Much to write about as we move forward but today is just to say 3 quick points; 1).thank you to so many who sent good wishes; 2.)I have been in close contact with many people who have boots-on-the-ground and have heard of no dire need of assistance pertaining to diabetes supplies in our hard-hit area (still monitoring) and 3.) Remember a Veteran this week…..we have so much for they gave their all.

I am a diabetesdad.

Tag: disaster

Hurricane Sandy and Diabetes……..

All I Can Say is………..Whew!!!!!!!!