Katrina Provides Lessons for Future Disaster Planning

Editor's Note. As this issue of The Risk Management Reporter was going to press, Gulf Coast healthcare providers were coping with the onslaught of multiple hurricanes. Healthcare providers in Louisiana were sharing the lessons they learned from Hurricane Katrina as others were preparing for Hurricanes Rita and Wilma. We report some of those lessons here based on interviews with healthcare providers in New Orleans, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. In future mailings, the Healthcare Risk Control (HRC) System will provide members with updated information for emergency planning and evacuation.

As a result of Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast healthcare facilities evacuated 2,200 patients, 3,800 nursing home residents, and more than 11,000 employees, medical staff members, and city residents. Interviews conducted by HRC with representatives from New Orleans-based Tulane University Hospital and Clinic...