Health Officials Work to Cont... Video Transcript

Participants

, Irwin Redlener MD,, David L. Causey MBA, MHA,

Summary

The worst of Hurricane Katrina may be over, but thousands of evacuees from the Gulf coast still face an uncertain future. With the recovery underway, are we prepared for the next perfect storm?

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Hurricane Katrina continues to leave a devastating trail, as Gulf coast residents set up home in temporary shelters as far away as California.

IRWIN REDLENER, MD: It's been very, very traumatic for people who have been affected, as well as for the people who are taking care of those people who are directly affected. So we're trying to pay a lot of attention to those needs. They're only going to get worse over time. This is not going to be a rapid return to business, and homes, and families as usual.

ANNOUNCER: At least 80,000 evacuees remain in a patchwork of relief shelters spread across eighteen states. And as they try to find some comforts of home, volunteer medical teams are finding that a lack of care has its price.

IRWIN REDLENER, MD: The immediate health problems that are being faced by evacuees include everything from infected wounds and skin rashes, from exposure to all sorts of horrible things in the environment, to unattended chronic conditions. They can't get their medicine. They can't get access to a doctor.

ANNOUNCER: More help is on the way. But Redlener says that relief efforts can get lost in a maze when there is little coordination.

IRWIN REDLENER, MD: I think the country's OK when it comes to dealing with the typical kind of earthquake and tornado and moderate category 2 or 3 hurricane. Where we get into trouble is with the big events, and that's something that we need to learn a whole lot more about, and hopefully many lessons will come out of this that will guide us in the future.

ANNOUNCER: With further hurricanes threatening on the horizon, such lessons can't be learned soon enough.