Series Examines New Orleans Hospital Experiences In Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday began a 22-part daily series on the experiences of medical personnel at two New Orleans hospitals after Hurricane Katrina hit the city. The series will examine how the staffs of Charity Hospital, operated by the Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, and Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, operated by HCA, cared for patients without the aid of electricity after floodwaters destroyed their backup generators (Hansen, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/7). The series is available online.

Health Care for Children Needed
Children living in FEMA trailers "urgently require an emergency relief package that directly addresses their most pressing health care needs," Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and president of the Children's Health Fund, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. "We are watching the worst children's health crisis in modern American history unfold in the gulf area," Redlener writes, citing a Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health study that found that the chronic disease rate for children displaced by Katrina is high, while accessibility to medical care is low. Redlener says, "For $100 million -- a small fraction of the billions allocated for reconstruction -- the government could support a force of at least 200 pediatricians and family doctors, 100 specially trained mental health workers, 25 mobile medical units and a much strengthened school-based health care network throughout the gulf region." He concludes, "After the trauma of Hurricane Katrina, this secondary disaster ... may have far more serious consequences. Thousands of children are now seemingly abandoned by a federal government still unable to function effectively when it counts the most" (Redlener, New York Times, 5/9).


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