LAT: Katrina pushes public health system to brink

[norml]

Katrina pushes public health system to brink
By Los Angeles Times

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La. — Authorities along the Gulf Coast faced the collapse of the public health system Tuesday with water supplies sporadic, electricity shut off, hospitals closing and the threat of more injuries and infectious diseases in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Officials also warned against a variety of imminent problems, including encounters with snakes, alligators and other wildlife displaced by the flooding, and the need to minister to the mental health needs of survivors who have lost nearly all their worldly possessions.

The biggest problem they face is that modern medicine requires large amounts of electricity and there was very little available Tuesday — and for the foreseeable future.

At least 10 hospitals in New Orleans were using generator-supplied electricity, and several have already closed. State health authorities have been transporting critically ill patients out of New Orleans by boat, helicopter and bus, said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, the state health officer.


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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/nation/epaper/2005/08/31/a9a_kat_health_0831.html

[aquart]

1. Uh huh. A public health system is what you have

When you don't have a national health system?

[shraby]

2. The lack of communications, power

and water in situations like this should be very seriously studied to see if there is any way to keep these basic needs running during disasters. One way for communications and power to stay viable is maybe run them underground. It would be costlier, but in hurricane and flood areas it would save a lot of lives.

[norml]

3. Floodwaters carry with them a major threat of disease

Posted on Tue, Aug. 30, 2005


Floodwaters carry with them a major threat of disease

BY JACOB GOLDSTEIN AND FRED TASKER

Knight Ridder Newspapers


MIAMI - (KRT) - Flooding in New Orleans could cause major public health problems ranging from diarrhea to West Nile virus, experts said. But on Tuesday, beleaguered medical workers were struggling to keep patients alive.

Contaminated floodwaters can spread such bacteria as E. coli and salmonella, which can be fatal for the very young, the very old and others with weak immune systems, says Dr. Delia Rivera, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Experts said it could be several weeks before the floodwaters - contaminated with toxins including human feces, gasoline and chemicals from industrial sites - are pumped from the city.

Toxic chemicals in the water can cause skin rashes and other ailments, Rivera said.

But while flooding can potentially spread such epidemic-causing diseases as typhoid fever, cholera and leptospirosis, they are not likely to be a problem in the short term because they are not endemic in the United States.

A more serious medium-term risk, Rivera said, might be mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus.


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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/nation/12519009.htm

[I_Make_Mistakes]

4. Privatization, screws everyone, except the #1 tie,. til now

Get in and out quickly, rape and pillage (layoff personnel, bottom line looks good, year end), we'll be gone when the chit hits the fan, the American New Corporate Way!

I have been through enough corporate take overs and mergers to see the decimation of entire companies, heck, most of the large corp's, I worked for don't exist anymore.

The problem is, there is no future in that game. The reason no one noticed earlier, is during the dot com climb and booming economy, we were making more $ than ever before, so spending on the creeping price increase weren't felt.

If, we had, long term, corp. exec's, running co's, (like 20 yrs. ago, things would be different). The only good news, the rich are gonna get screwed too! When you are having a heart attack and the nearest hospital is (insert name), you aren't going to make it!

[wli]

5. The private contractor has yet to show its face.

As far as anyone can tell it has been entirely absent, and was little more than a front for accepting federal grant money.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

6. Do you have a name?

It's time to expose the crooks for who they are. In the meantime, we have to figure out what WE can do, right?

[I_Make_Mistakes]

7. Oh, and wli

Chit always rolls downhill. Don't expect this contractor to get away with their faille. In corporate America, finger pointing, not solving the problem, is the most prolific game played.

[wli]

8. Their name was "IEM" but no idea what that stands for. n/t