Problems With Medical Care, Other Services Continue In New Orleans Area After Hurricane, Report Finds

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Aid / Disasters;  Public Health
Article Date: 31 Aug 2007 - 13:00 PDT

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Problems with medical care and other services have continued in the New Orleans area in the two years since Hurricane Katrina, according to a report released this month by the Brookings Institution, the McClatchy/Lexington Herald-Leader reports. According to the report, the New Orleans area had 23 major hospitals and other medical facilities in operation before the hurricane, but, as of last month, 10 of those facilities -- which include acute care hospitals, psychiatric clinics and long-term disability and rehabilitation centers -- remain closed.

The report also found that St. Bernard Parish, one of the parts of the New Orleans area most affected by the hurricane, has not had a hospital in operation since the storm. The lack of medical facilities in the New Orleans area raises concerns because residents have faced an "increased prevalence of mental illness, acute conditions and death" since the hurricane, the report said (Douglas, McClatchy/Lexington Herald-Leader, 8/29).

The report is available online.

NPR's "Talk of the Nation" on Tuesday included a discussion with Karen DeSalvo, chief of general internal medicine and geriatrics at the Tulane University School of Medicine and executive director of the university's Community Health Center at Covenant House, about the health care system in New Orleans (Conan, "Talk of the Nation," NPR, 8/28). Audio of the segment is available online.

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