Their odyssey began with the rest of New Orleans’ poor. They knew the hurricane was coming but had no cars to make their escape and no place to go anyway.
On Aug. 28, the day before the storm hit, the Abstract House caretakers hustled the 16 residents and Campos, a former resident who was visiting for the weekend, into vans headed for the Superdome, about a mile away.
Abstract’s director, Barrie Byrnes, said she was following instructions from city officials.”
They never was able to effectuate any kind of evacuation plan,” she said. “We were told the dome would be for special needs.”
Stress and disruption are as threatening to psychotics as the winds that peeled the Superdome’s roof like an orange. Once inside the dome, they barricaded themselves behind privacy curtains and packing crates.
One of the patients designated himself the holder of the meds:
Cogentin, Xanax, Paxil, Cibalith, and about a dozen more.
“I’m in charge of the medications because of my street knowledge,” he said. “That, and my mother was trained to be a nurse. Some of these guys need their pills four times a day.”
The group ended up in a group home is Houston. Go read the whole thing.
