Hospital system in New Orleans examined one year after hurricane Katrina

The Boston Globe on Monday examined the hospital system in New Orleans one year after damage from Hurricane Katrina forced most facilities in the city to close.

According to the Globe, the population of New Orleans has decreased by about half since the hurricane, but hospitals "are struggling to meet demand even in a much smaller city." Only three of the ten hospitals in New Orleans have reopened since the hurricane, and the city continues to lack a trauma center. In addition, New Orleans has only 60 psychiatric beds available, compared with 364 before the hurricane. Leah Hedrick, a social worker at Ochsner Hospital, said, "The main thing we're seeing is substance abuse, overdoses. We see over 345 psych-related diagnoses per month in the emergency room, whereas prior to the storm, we were seeing about 90 a month." Patient volume at Ochsner has doubled since the hurricane. Fred Cerise, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said that the hospital system in New Orleans also has a shortage of physicians and nurses. According to the Globe, the number of physicians in New Orleans has decreased by 75% since the hurricane, and the city requires about 969 additional nurses to fill vacancies. Kevin Jordan, vice president of medical affairs at Touro Infirmary, said, "It's a system that -- literally every day -- is on the brink." He added, "It's a miracle to me that we actually get through a given day -- not just Touro but citywide." The Globe also profiled the Medical Center of Louisiana, which since March has operated an emergency department and dental clinic in a former Lord & Taylor department store (O'Brien, Boston Globe, 8/28).

Related Broadcast Coverage

• CBS' "Evening News" on Monday examined health and access to care challenges after Hurricane Katrina. The segment includes comments from Tracy Legros, an emergency services physician who evacuated patients from Charity Hospital, and Jed Tate, a paramedic in New Orleans (Cowan, "Evening News," CBS, 8/28). The complete transcript is available online. The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
• NPR's "News & Notes with Ed Gordon" on Monday included an interview with Joe Freeman -- an ED physician in Baton Rouge who established his own medical clinic for hurricane evacuees but closed the clinic because of a lack of funds -- about access to care for Louisiana residents (Chideya, "News & Notes with Ed Gordon," NPR, 8/28). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.