Third anniversary of Katrina, New Orleans healthcare still a disaster OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 29
OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As America turns its attention to
New Orleans on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Registered
Nurse Response Network (RNRN), has put out a call nationwide for RN volunteers
in the event that tropical storm Gustav overwhelms local healthcare services,
RNRN announced today.
"RNRN has been in communication with the community free clinics that arose
from the aftermath of Katrina and we will be monitoring the situation all
throughout the Labor Day weekend to see when and if the services of our RN
volunteers are needed," said Bonnie Castillo RN, and director of the RNRN. "In
the meantime we will be screening RNs as to their availability and expertise."
As the storm gathers strength, and Mississippi and Louisiana are placed on
high alert, residents express grave concerns that their basic healthcare needs
will be ignored, again.
"Katrina revealed some ugly truths about our nation's failure to care for
its citizens in the wake of a natural disaster, and here we go again," said
Kim Lange, a New Orleans native, nurse practitioner, and RNRN member. "And we
are still not prepared today. We need a national healthcare system that has
the capability of stepping in at the time of impact and providing the
healthcare services needed."
In conjunction with today's anniversary, RNRN has also released a new
video, Broken Levees Broken Lives, that examines the collapse of the city's
healthcare system, which can be viewed at http://www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org.
The video explores the ongoing crisis through the first-person accounts of
nurses, doctors, city officials and local residents who are still struggling
under appalling healthcare conditions following Katrina. The new video offers
ways to take action, including passage of HR 676 and contributing
much -- needed funds to the community health clinics featured in the piece.
About CNA/NNOC's 2005 Katrina Effort
CNA/NNOC sent more than 300 nurses to 25 hospitals, clinics, and mobile
units in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi in response to the 2005 hurricanes,
including a group of 50 RNs who arrived at the Houston Astrodome in the first
few weeks. The organization provided half of the RN staff at Earl K. Long
Memorial Hospital in Baton Rouge, La., for the two months after Katrina when
patient rolls doubled.
This effort eventually became the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN)
and now has more than 4,000 members. RNRN is designed to provide support and
coordination for volunteer nurses when disaster strikes, allowing RNs to focus
on providing patient care. RNRN works with federal and state agencies to
resolve issues of medical credentials and licenses for out-of-state nurse
volunteers.
To find out more about the RN Response Network, visit
http://www.RNresponsenetwork.org. RNRN is a project of the California Nurses
Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Background on the Current State of New Orleans' Healthcare crisis
The tragedy of the collapse of the public health safety net in New
Orleans, caused by the controversial closure of Charity Hospital and its
network of community clinics, is underscored by the findings of a recent study
that points to an increasingly sicker population in the city. The Kaiser
Family Foundation survey released on Aug. 13 found that 84 percent of adults
living in New Orleans face ongoing health challenges and there has been a
substantial deterioration in residents' mental health status.
Moreover, a recent article in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences
noted that Charity Hospital -- which is featured prominently in the RNRN
video -- "was the center of the greater New Orleans safety-net system for the
past 269 years [and] the dominant source of care for the indigent population,
serving 63 percent of the uninsured." A recent structural assessment of
Charity unveiled Wednesday estimated it could be rehabilitated in three years
at a cost of $484 million. Building a new hospital would take five years and
cost $620 million, the report says.
With these conditions as a backdrop -- and with other public hospitals
facing financial difficulties and closures around the country -- many medical
professionals, patients, and other community leaders inside and outside of New
Orleans are calling for the passage of HR 676, a national "Medicare for All"
system and its promise of guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model that
is succeeding in every other industrialized democracy.
Healthcare Professionals, Patients, Community Activist Featured in Broken
Levees, Broken Lives Available for Comment:
In conjunction with the release of this video, RNRN is also making
available a number of individuals featured in the video who can talk about the
healthcare crisis in New Orleans, including --
-- Alice Craft-Kearney, RN and Patricia Berryhill, RN: Two nurses who
founded the Lower 9th Ward Health Clinic from Berryhill's personal home of
over 30 years where she raised her children and prepared meals for the local
football team. The home was flooded to the rooftop and completely rehabbed
with help from community volunteers to from the now-pristine and desperately
needed free health clinic.
-- Cecile Tebo, NOLA Police Dept. Crisis Unit Administrator: Saw an
increase in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide following the
storm, yet there were no psychiatric beds for two years with the closure of
Charity Hospital -- the second-largest public hospital in the nation. She
reports that there's been little improvement.
-- Kim Lange, Nurse Practitioner: A native of the Lower 9th Ward, Kim
joined RNRN immediately following the storm and volunteered at the Lower 9th
Ward Clinic.
-- Dr. James Moises, MD: Emergency room physician (formerly at Charity
Hospital, which remains closed three years post-Katrina)
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is
the fastest-growing professional RN organization in the nation representing
over 80,000 direct-care registered nurses in all 50 states. RNRN is a program
of the CNA/NNOC.
SOURCE The California Nurses Association
