Hospitals?

[Amos Magliocco]

Good news on the VA Hospital in New Orleans. From the DVA website:

Overview
All patients have been safely evacuated from the New Orleans VA Medical Center. Nearly all employees and all family members at the medical center have also been safely evacuated. Only a few employees remain on the scene for administrative and security purposes. No injuries or deaths of VA patients or employees have occurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

A toll-free telephone number, 1-800-507-4571 has been established for veterans or their families to obtain information, including where to receive care, how to receive prescription drugs, and other concerns. Another toll-free number, 1-888-766-2474, is available to provide information to VA employees at the affected sites.

The Biloxi VA Medical Center remains open, but its Gulfport Division suffered major damage. No patients and few employees remain at Gulfport. VA medical centers in Houston, Dallas and Atlanta are assisting with the evacuation of non-VA patients and refugees from New Orleans.

New Orleans
Evacuation of the New Orleans VA Medical Center is complete. Only a few administrative staff members will remain, along with security and law enforcement officers. Those evacuated include 146 patients and approximately 500 employees and family members have been moved to VA facilities in Houston, Jackson, Shreveport, Alexandria and Little Rock. Ten patients requiring ventilators have been transferred to other hospitals. The Alexandria VA Medical Center will continue to serve as a staging area for moving additional staff and supplies to New Orleans.

 

[Justin Turcotte]

Germainly related to the thread... I had an indepth discussion at work yesterday regarding many facets of the disaster. We discussed why hospitals would be targets of armed thugs and all concurred that a hospital is an excellent source of drugs. We all know that a drug addict in need of a fix can get extremlely violent. For future disasters in large urban areas there will need to be more security at these facilities so the folks can get out safely.