Dr. Dave Hnida has been to war, but nothing he saw on the battlefields of Iraq prepared him for the devastation in New Orleans.
Hnida, medical reporter for KCNC-Channel 4 and a medic in the National Guard, was sent to the storm-ravaged city last week as part of a humanitarian medical team.
His reports on CBS4News the past few nights are the observations of a stunned man. “When I landed in Iraq I had a particular mindset, but there is absolutely no way to prepare yourself for what was going on down there,” Hnida said in an interview.
“In essence, what you have is a city that was destroyed and people really had no place to go, nothing to eat, nothing to drink and were scared to death over what was going to come next.”
He declines to join the dog pile over who was to blame for the immobility among government agencies that followed Hurricane Katrina, other than to say, “I can’t disagree with what others have said.”
Hnida, who’s facing another tour in New Orleans in the near future, has some advice for the naysayers. “We live so well and we (complain) about everything in the world. Instead of opening their mouths, people need to open their wallets, and take people in.”
He will recount his experiences as part of a 30-minute Channel 4 special, “After Katrina,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Weekend highlights
Today
All six broadcast networks and stations around the world carry “Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast,” featuring musical performers Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Alicia Keys, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart and Neil Young live from New York and Los Angeles at 7 p.m.
Saturday
Ten percent of the proceeds from KBDI-Channel 12’s auction of local sports memorabilia goes to hurricane victims (6-10 p.m.).
More than a dozen northern Colorado radio stations combine for a hurricane-relief concert at 4 p.m. at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland.
Sunday
More heroism comes our way with “The Flight That Fought Back,” a no-nonsense telling of the passengers and crew who took on terrorists on Flight 93 in 2001. Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland (7 p.m., Discovery).
Around the dial
KVOD 90.1-FM has juggled its lineup of announcers: Steve Blatt and Monika Vischer, 6-9 a.m. Mondays-Saturdays; Kimberlea Daggy, Alan Chapman and Charles Andrews, midday weekdays … Jumping the gun: Steffan Tubbs was supposed to start next Monday as co-anchor of “Colorado Morning News” on KOA 850-AM but events in New Orleans sent him to Houston for coverage earlier this week … Quotable: “This is a disaster that will have consequences through our generation.” Dave Hnida
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
