Last Friday’s column on Hurricane Katrina generated an enormous amount of response, which was mostly broken out into three categories: (1) Right on. (2) Stop Bush-bashing/being unpatriotic. (3) It is the local government’s job to protect people, not the federal government’s job. Let’s take them in order (and then get to that VC working in the Astrodome):

Right On: Joshua writes: “Prior to receiving your email this morning, I wrote my Senator to express almost the exact same sentiments. It's shameful and embarrassing and I hope that this is a wake up call for our leaders.” Suzanne: “I have found your writing to be a beautiful blend of political savvy, great humor, dogged investigation and, at times, unbridled personal emotion. Your inclusions are pithy -- right on the money. Today's column exemplifies every reason I read PE Week." Mayer: "I wanted to thank you for your Friday email. Words can't describe the frustration and embarrassment that I feel watching the situation in New Orleans. Your note, however, struck a chord with its poignancy and sentiment.”

Stop Bush-Bashing: Scott writes: "I do not enjoy your frequent political rants and second guessing of decisions by our leaders in this column. I agree that the entire situation in New Orleans is a tragedy. Nonetheless, do you think that John Kerry or a Democratic president would have been able to do anything differently in the current situation? Reading your comments makes it seem like Katrina is another instance of your placing all of our country's (even the world's) problems on George Bush. Give me a break.” Neil: “Shame on you for spreading the word of ‘shame’ and referring to the government. I would think a capitalist like you would realize that it is not the government’s fault… It’s the people stupid. Now, why not just keep your and everyone else’s spirits up by being positive and hopeful instead of whiney and trivial.”

Dan: “With everything unfolding in New Orleans, many media types have used this as an opportunity to trash talk the president, and I am very surprised that you would get in the middle of this. A number of people in this country absolutely despise the current administration, and will try to pin any sort of bad press on them.T his is politics at its worst, you are not trying to help the situation in LA, you are slinging crap just like every other blow heart [sic] out there… There is no doubt that someone screwed up - levies aren't strong enough, evac plan is weak, guns are not in the Walmart safe, etc. Now the government is dealing with the aftereffects - FEMA is doing what they do, the governor has the LA National Guard at his [sic] disposal. For the rest of us, it is not time to play the blame game, it is time for American solidarity - opening our wallets, our homes, etc. People are dying in New Orleans and all Sullivan can do to help them is say that it is Bush's fault - what a patriot."

Constitutional Argument: Vito writes: "I didn’t want to write this email because I don't want anyone to think I am indifferent to the suffering in the Gulf Coast [but] I am writing this email because I find myself annoyed at the response and the direction of blame going on here… Look it up, the federal gov’t was made purposefully weak on domestic issues for the sake of our civil liberties. The task of running the domestic side of things falls to our governors, not our president. Look at education, crime, etc... It's all in the hands of the states but we blame the feds… I don't blame FEMA or Bush for what's going in down south. I blame the governors and the mayors letting chaos happen.”

Note: Very surprised to hear this last argument. It is certainly true from a constitutional perspective, but the Founding Fathers never envisioned a Dep’t of Homeland Security, or necessarily a president whose last campaign revolved around the idea of “I’ll keep you safer than the other guy.” Again, I certainly believe that the NOLA tragedy should be pinned on ALL levels of government, including inept management by Mayor Nagin (school buses?), Gov. Blanco (coordination?) and Pres. Bush (pathetic patronage at FEMA). However, the feds asked for the greatest responsibility when they created a Dept. of Homeland Defense. You can’t ask for responsibility, receive it and then shirk it at a time of crisis.

Finally, VC Evan, who spent last Friday at the Astrodome: “What do you say to someone who has lost everything? As an early volunteer physician yesterday at the Astrodome, I wrestled with this question. Unable to help my colleagues stuck in New Orleans, the next best assistance I could provide was at the Astrodome. Nothing in my medical training prepared me for the scale of what I witnessed. While the sickest patients had been triaged by medical personnel in New Orleans and before they were processed into the Astrodome, on the floor at our medical clinic we were presented with women going into labor, patients that had not had dialysis or insulin in days, patients with infections and unknown bites from wading through the water, and enough patients with chest pain and other acute illness that we had a steady flow of ambulances nearby. I asked one pregnant lady with very swollen legs to elevate her feet with a pillow when lying on her cot. She told me she slept on the concrete the night before. After a fruitless search for a cot, I asked that she at least put a pillow under her legs, to which she replied there are not pillows either.

Another victim, an elderly man, was found incoherent and being attended to by a young boy who lived next to him in New Orleans. When asked where the family was of both victims, the boy told me that they all came together to Houston, but lost each other a day earlier within the masses of people in the arena and had not been able to find each other ever since. Even if victims were fortunate enough to arrive with family, once processed, many lost track of parents and children among the tens of thousands at the dome.

Perhaps the most difficult part of caring for the victims is the inability to treat their deeper wounds—the ones that a bandage and medications can’t repair. Many people were still stunned by the events of the prior days. I saw volunteers holding a crying older woman, consoling her in their arms. As I looked into the children’s eyes I saw their fear and sadness, images that have been seen across the nation. I watched a young mom search desperately though the piles of donated clothes for shoes for her kids—long barefoot since losing their shoes while wading through the water. All had harrowing stories of helicopters, events at the Superdome, and above all else desire to find family members—whether lost in the dome, at another shelter in the region, or still stuck in New Orleans.

Hope came later in the day with word that buses and troops were finally evacuating the rest of the city and more organized relief efforts being provided within Houston to all Hurricane victims. Perhaps some of the best medicine given was the reassurance and hope that things are going to get better. Houston is a city that struggles to meet the healthcare and social needs of the population. We have been able to build three new stadiums but have one of the highest uninsured populations in the country. I found particular irony in the fact that the stadiums have now become the homes and hospitals for so many thousands in need.

While I spend my days working as a healthcare venture capitalist on the business side of medicine, yesterday reminded me that a family physician is who I am and venture capital is just what I do.”

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