New Orleans under water, death toll at 100
Brett Martel, Associated Press, August 31, 2005

New Orleans - Rescuers along the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf Coast pushed aside the dead floating in the streets to reach the living in a race against time and rising floodwaters.

As New Orleans sank deeper into crisis yesterday, Louisiana's governor ordered storm refugees out of the drowning city. With countless people dead, the death toll in one hard-hit Mississippi county alone topped 100. ... Cities ruined

Baton Rouge Advocate, August 31, 2005

Registered nurses - The Baton Rouge General, which has campuses at 3600 Florida Blvd., and 8585 Picardy Ave., needs registered nurses due to the large influx of hurricane victims and evacuated patients. These are paid nursing assignments. Call (225) 381-6464 or visit www.brnurse.com or www.brgeneral.org. ... How to help

Almost 200 Patients To Be Airlifted From New Orleans To Houston
Click2Houston.com, August 31, 2005

Houston - About 200 medical patients will be airlifted Wednesday to Houston from New Orleans, where hospitals suffer power outages, fuel-deprived generators and flooding from Hurricane Katrina.

At least seven hospitals in Orleans Parish were threatened by loss of power generators and other problems. Some hospitals are running out of fuel for generators. As a result, federal officials began the evacuations of about 2,500 patients Tuesday. ... Houston

Daily Mail, August 31, 2005

As floodwaters rose around Charity Hospital in New Orleans following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, hospital staff struggled to keep patients alive.

Charity's backup generator was running out of diesel fuel.

Nurses had to hand-pump ventilators for patients who could not breathe, while doctors canoed supplies in from three nearby hospitals. ... Hospitals

Losses, deteriorating conditions difficult for survivors to bear
CNN, August 31, 2005

For many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina, nothing is left but heartbreak and hardship.

Evelyn Turner wept Tuesday as she waited for someone to take away the body of Xavier Bowie in New Orleans, The Associated Press reported.

Bowie, her common-law husband, had lung cancer and couldn't evacuate from the Louisiana city. He died when he ran out of oxygen Tuesday, according to the AP.

Turner wrapped his body and kept a tearful vigil, the AP said, in a devastated city so overwhelmed that rescuers are pushing aside the dead to tend to the living. ... It's like being

Two churches house, feed patients' families
Vickie Welborn, Shreveport Times, August 30, 2005

Mansfield - Two hospitals under one roof.

That's how DeSoto Regional Health System CEO Scott Stafford described the atmosphere Monday as his staff and about a dozen employees from St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling worked side-by-side tending to their respective patients.

The St. Charles Parish Hospital contingent - patients, doctors, nurses and family members - was forced northward Sunday as Hurricane Katrina neared the Louisiana Gulf coast. ... DeSoto

Chantelle Janelle, Associated Press, August 30, 2005

New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina is forcing hospital workers to go to great extremes to do their jobs.

National Guard troops are evacuating 300 patients from Charity Hospital in New Orleans, which is surrounded by water.

Nurses held flashlights and ventilated patients by hand. Doctors wearing green scrubs used canoes to ferry supplies between the city's four downtown hospitals. ... Hospitals

Publicly owned facility gains room to grow
Manuel Torres, News Orleans Times-Picayune, September 1, 2004

East Jefferson General Hospital on Tuesday signed a $24.3 million deal to buy its next-door neighbor, Doctors Hospital of Jefferson, completing the first hospital merger ever in Jefferson Parish.

The deal, which also included two nearby medical office buildings and a parking lot owned by Doctors, expands the number of beds for publicly owned East Jefferson General by about 30 percent, to more than 580. The acquisition also gives the land-starved hospital room to grow, hospital executives said.

"Anybody looking at Doctors Hospital can easily see that it's part of East Jefferson's campus," said Bill Goggans, chairman of East Jefferson General's board. "We feel we made a very fair deal."