Andrew
09-03-05, 06:00 PM
By Jane Daugherty
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 03, 2005
PALM BEACH GARDENS — When Marion Rafael hurriedly packed her two sons, bags of sandwiches and backpacks jammed with clothes into her mother's car Sunday morning, she never dreamed that Thursday afternoon she would be 800 miles from her Louisiana home.
"Broke, tired and scared," is how Rafael described her situation in a Palm Beach Gardens pediatrician's office seeking medical care for her 12-year-old son, Teal, on Thursday.
'His brain's OK,' declares 12-year-old Teal Rafael of Harahan, La., after examining Dr. Tommy Schechtman Friday. Rafael's family fled Hurricane "You never visualize yourself in a situation like this," said Rafael, blinking back tears that appear often these days in the corners of her strikingly blue eyes, "My son is out of medication and since he has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), he can't really sit in an emergency room for hours and hours waiting for care.
"He's a great kid, but he's actually been getting violent and extremely agitated. I had to find him a doctor and we're totally out of money from staying in motels in Panama City."
Dr. Tommy Schechtman had already signed up with the Red Cross to provide free medical care to children fleeing Hurricane Katrina-ravaged areas. Teal was the first patient the Red Cross sent to him.
So Rafael, a licensed truck driver born and raised 10 miles outside New Orleans in the tiny town of Harahan, La., pulled up to the mid-rise medical office building with its own valet parking next to The Gardens mall.
"I was pretty scared about this," she said. But minutes later, she and Teal were ushered into a examining room decorated with tropical murals.
Schechtman, who treated hundreds of Miami children amid the debris of Hurricane Andrew, pulled out his red-tubed stethoscope and best bedside manner.
With Rafael's permission, Schechtman said later: "She was right. He needed attention right away. The level of stress he's been subjected to this week would be harmful to a kid without ADHD. Combined with his illness and lack of medication, the situation could be volatile."
Soon, Teal was wearing the stethoscope and listening to the doctor's head. "His brain's OK," Teal said, wrinkling his nose sprinkled with freckles that match his reddish-brown hair.
Schechtman spoke reassuringly to mother and son, wrote a prescription, then had it filled at no cost at the pharmacy on the first floor of his building. He personally made a follow-up appointment to see Teal again and to get the family counseling.
"It's the least I can do," Schechtman said. "I think all of us have an obligation to do what we can in the face of this much suffering."
Rafael and her sons, who are staying with a friend in Palm Beach Gardens, saw aerial shots of their neighborhood on TV Wednesday night. They spotted the roof of their Louisiana home near the Winn-Dixie.
"That's all that was above water, the roof," she said, "It was my grandparents' home, then my parents bought it, now it's mine — whatever is left of it."
Will Schechtman be going to New Orleans to treat children there?
"Well, I'll probably go if we can work out the schedule," Schechtman said with a shrug. "There's something about the human spirit that needs to help."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/09/03/c1c_kiddoc_0903.html
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 03, 2005
PALM BEACH GARDENS — When Marion Rafael hurriedly packed her two sons, bags of sandwiches and backpacks jammed with clothes into her mother's car Sunday morning, she never dreamed that Thursday afternoon she would be 800 miles from her Louisiana home.
"Broke, tired and scared," is how Rafael described her situation in a Palm Beach Gardens pediatrician's office seeking medical care for her 12-year-old son, Teal, on Thursday.
'His brain's OK,' declares 12-year-old Teal Rafael of Harahan, La., after examining Dr. Tommy Schechtman Friday. Rafael's family fled Hurricane "You never visualize yourself in a situation like this," said Rafael, blinking back tears that appear often these days in the corners of her strikingly blue eyes, "My son is out of medication and since he has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), he can't really sit in an emergency room for hours and hours waiting for care.
"He's a great kid, but he's actually been getting violent and extremely agitated. I had to find him a doctor and we're totally out of money from staying in motels in Panama City."
Dr. Tommy Schechtman had already signed up with the Red Cross to provide free medical care to children fleeing Hurricane Katrina-ravaged areas. Teal was the first patient the Red Cross sent to him.
So Rafael, a licensed truck driver born and raised 10 miles outside New Orleans in the tiny town of Harahan, La., pulled up to the mid-rise medical office building with its own valet parking next to The Gardens mall.
"I was pretty scared about this," she said. But minutes later, she and Teal were ushered into a examining room decorated with tropical murals.
Schechtman, who treated hundreds of Miami children amid the debris of Hurricane Andrew, pulled out his red-tubed stethoscope and best bedside manner.
With Rafael's permission, Schechtman said later: "She was right. He needed attention right away. The level of stress he's been subjected to this week would be harmful to a kid without ADHD. Combined with his illness and lack of medication, the situation could be volatile."
Soon, Teal was wearing the stethoscope and listening to the doctor's head. "His brain's OK," Teal said, wrinkling his nose sprinkled with freckles that match his reddish-brown hair.
Schechtman spoke reassuringly to mother and son, wrote a prescription, then had it filled at no cost at the pharmacy on the first floor of his building. He personally made a follow-up appointment to see Teal again and to get the family counseling.
"It's the least I can do," Schechtman said. "I think all of us have an obligation to do what we can in the face of this much suffering."
Rafael and her sons, who are staying with a friend in Palm Beach Gardens, saw aerial shots of their neighborhood on TV Wednesday night. They spotted the roof of their Louisiana home near the Winn-Dixie.
"That's all that was above water, the roof," she said, "It was my grandparents' home, then my parents bought it, now it's mine — whatever is left of it."
Will Schechtman be going to New Orleans to treat children there?
"Well, I'll probably go if we can work out the schedule," Schechtman said with a shrug. "There's something about the human spirit that needs to help."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/09/03/c1c_kiddoc_0903.html