Sights lingering with airboaters

[rick]

Katrina's aftermath takes physical, emotional toll on local volunteers

BY DAN GARCIA
FLORIDA TODAY

MALABAR - Virginia Roseman could hear her husband, Steve Roseman, sobbing in his sleep. Steve admits to being haunted by indelible scenes of suffering that made him wonder if he had entered another world.

Roseman, of Malabar, was among several Brevard airboat owners who...

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[Capt Jeff]

Now he needs a sort of rescuing himself. His voice is raspy and his throat sore from a virus he acquired from the toxic waters. He has a rash on his arm, and his neck is tender and painful to the touch.

As for physical symptoms, Roseman rattles them off: "Severe sore throat, earache, sinus draining, my mouth is dry like burnt meat, I have sores on the side of my tongue.

"I've got a bad cough and I keep hacking up things, because the mist that was airborne from that water had gas, sewer and dead bodies combined. I've got a bit of a rash on my arms, but some of the other guys, you wouldn't believe their arms."


These are some of the same sysmtoms that we observed on several recovery personel after the Valu Jet crash in '96.