Fire on the mountain

Hey kids,

I guess this is your first big disaster, huh? This is all happening 20 miles or less from where we are, so we are safe as ... uh ... houses, I suppose. There's an 11,000-foot mountain and a few miles of desert in those 20 miles between us and the fire, but we know quite a few people who have been affected by this damned thing.

Momma was quoted in the paper here after I got ahold of a co-worker in the Tahoe office while on the road back from San Jose on Sunday:

Tahoe Daily Tribune story

Coolest doctor ever!

The woman who delivered you into this world wrote the following to the local newspaper:

How visitors can help

The trees and houses of South Lake Tahoe are blackened by the devastating Angora Fire, but not the hearts of her residents. At the “town hall” meeting last night, the huge multipurpose room at South Tahoe Middle School was crammed to overflowing; the 300 handouts a safety office brought were laughably inadequate for a crowd of locals estimated at 1200. The common theme: We love our town and what can we do to help our neighbors who lost everything?

Well, I’ll tell you what you, the non-locals, can do: Keep coming to visit our beautiful lake. The ash will be gone soon. Come and spend money in our restaurants and our local stores. Leave big tips – the waitress who brings you your pie may have lost everything but the clothes on her back. If you have a vacation home that you use once a twice a year or you vacation rent to frat boys having a party, consider long-term renting to one of the 17 hospital employees, the 2 or 3 doctors, the accountants, lawyers, waitresses, firefighters, police officers, store owners who lost their homes.

You come to Tahoe for the beauty of the lake, but I tell you the real beauty is her locals.


... and also this:

Doctor reaches out to patients

To all my patients who have lost their homes: Just call the office at 542-4961 if you need refills of your medications. If we have samples, they are yours, but if not we will call them in ASAP. If your home has been destroyed or damaged, then leave your checkbook behind when you come in for your annual -- I am waiving all co-pays and co-insurance payments for all who have been hurt by this fire.

Our thoughts are with you all.