By Duke Medicine News and Communications

From the Advisory Board – August 31, 2005

Re: Status of Health Care Services on the Gulf Coast

Gulf Coast hospitals this week implemented emergency procedures to prepare for Hurricane Katrina and treat the thousands of people injured during the storm, according to various news reports. Intense flooding during the storm and its aftermath has caused many hospitals to evacuate patients and staff members, and facilities that remain open are largely relying on backup generators for power and are using cell phones and two-way radios to communicate. The following is the most recent information from some of the affected hospitals:

Shattered windows at New Orleans-based Charity Hospital forced officials to move patients to lower levels. Continued power outages have left generators running low on diesel fuel, and the Associated Press reports that nurses “hand-pumped ventilators” for critically ill patients when some generators failed.

New Orleans-based Ochsner Clinic Foundation reportedly has ample food, water, and medical supplies but is running on emergency generators without air conditioning and is accepting “only those patients with life-threatening illnesses.”

Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans was surrounded by water and hired helicopters to evacuate about 200 patients after both backup generators failed; more than 800 hospital workers and families were also in need of evacuation.

Chalmette Medical Center and “another hospital in East New Orleans” said they would transport roughly 200 patients to hospitals near Alexandria, Shreveport, and Monroe, La.

Four facilities on the Medical Center of Louisiana campus in New Orleans plan to evacuate.

Slidell Memorial Hospital yesterday provided shelter and food to survivors “plucked from rooftops and attics.”

The Times-Picayune reports that more than 100 police officers weathering the storm at LSU Medical Center in New Orleans were “trapped by high water” and evacuated by rescue crews.

New Orleans-based Children’s Hospital experienced attempted looting, leaving hospital administrators fearful for the “safety of the staff and the 100 kids inside the hospital.” Flooding prevented law enforcement officials from responding.

Marrero, La.-based West Jefferson Medical Center is “operating beyond capacity” but has received extra fuel for generators from the U.S. Navy and additional supplies from other area facilities.

Tenet Healthcare said flooding was forcing the evacuation of its Memorial Hospital and Lindy Boggs Medical Center in New Orleans and Gulf Coast Medical Center in Biloxi, Miss.; it is unclear how long the hospitals will remain closed. Three Louisiana facilities— Kenner Regional Medical Center in Kenner, Meadowcrest Hospital in Gretna, and NorthShore Regional Medical Center in Slidell—will remain open, despite water and wind damage. A Tenet spokesperson said the hospitals have enough supplies and generator power to sustain them for three to five days but that officials expect the effects of Katrina to last “much longer.”

Three of the five hospitals in Gulfport, Miss., were left without functioning EDs.

Keesler Medical Center at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., was damaged; patients are being transferred to San Antonio facilities for treatment.

Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in Florida lost long-distance phone service and its internal paging system but has equipped nurses’ stations and the business office with cell phones to make outgoing calls.

(Marchione, AP/Boston Globe, 8/31; Thevenot et al., Times Picayune, 8/30; Kirkham, Times Picayune, 8/30; AHANews Now, 8/30; Breed, AP/Tallahassee Democrat, 8/30; Nossiter, AP/Atlanta Journal Constitution, 8/31; Gordon, Dallas Business Journal, 8/30; Altman/Chang, New York Times, 8/31; Maugh II/Barry, Los Angeles Times, 8/31; San Antonio Business Journal, 8/30; Times-Picayune, 8/30; AHA News Now, 8/30; Ensley, Tallassee Democrat, 8/31).