Nikki Buskey, Houma Courier, May 24, 2010 Houma - New nursing graduates had no difficulty finding jobs last year, but this year’s crop is not as lucky. Despite a nursing shortage that is expected to worsen as health-care reform sends more people to local hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices, newly minted nurses are finding it increasingly difficult to find work. “This is the first time since the early 1980s we’ve seen something like this,” said Sue Westbrook, dean of Nicholls State University’s College of Nursing and Allied Health. ... Jobs

Sheri Fink, New York Times, August 30, 2009 The smell of death was overpowering the moment a relief worker cracked open one of the hospital chapel’s wooden doors. Inside, more than a dozen bodies lay motionless on low cots and on the ground, shrouded in white sheets. Here, a wisp of gray hair peeked out. There, a knee was flung akimbo. A pallid hand reached across a blue gown. Within days, the grisly tableau became the focus of an investigation into what happened when the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina marooned Memorial Medical Center in Uptown New Orleans. The hurricane knocked out power and running water and sent the temperatures inside above 100 degrees. ... Strained

About - News & Issues, July 3, 2007 Two nurses, who were accused of
giving four patients a "lethal cocktail" at a New Orleans hospital in
the wake of Hurricane Katrina, are no longer facing second-degree
murder charges after testifying before a grand jury last month. Both
nurses insist that they did not testify against Dr. Anna Pou, who was
also charged in the deaths. Nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry were
arrested and charged last summer with playing a part in the deaths of
the four patients at the Memorial Medical Center, which was flooded
after the Aug. 29, 2005 hurricane. ... Charges

Access to care is still inadequate, they say. Kate Moran, New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 8, 2007 Six local nurses said Monday that mental distress is omnipresent in New Orleans these days as residents feel helpless to secure rebuilding grants, find doctors and schools and otherwise navigate life in a fragile city. During a roundtable discussion sponsored by the Registered Nurse Response Network, the nurses also said that patients without health insurance are forced to go months without basic care and often show up at charitable clinics with their health on the skids. Alice Craft-Kerney said care for the uninsured is so fragmented that the first patient who showed up when she opened the Lower Ninth Ward Health Clinic in March had to be taken away in an ambulance. ... Nurses

Associated Press, February 1, 2007 New Orleans - A grand jury to be formed this month will probe allegations that a doctor and two nurses euthanized four critically ill patients in the days after Hurricane Katrina, prosecutors said Thursday. The case against Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry will go forward despite a coroner's saying that he cannot declare the deaths homicides, Assistant District Attorney Michael Morales said. Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said Wednesday the causes of death in each case remained undetermined after evidence reviews and consultations with top forensic experts. ... No

Janelle Rucker, Shreveport Times, December 27, 2006 Caddo Correctional Center inmates will see a change in the infirmary staff as paramedics replace nurses. The move was made to save the parish money, Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator said. The Caddo Commission reimburses his office for medical expenses at the prison, and this move should save $80,000 to $100,000, he said. "The parish of Caddo is always looking for ways to save taxpayers money," said Randy Lucky, assistant parish administrator. About 30 part-time paramedics will be needed to staff the facility. ... Paramedics

Michelle Roberts, Associated Press, November 20, 2006 New Orleans - Frustrated by the slow progress of the case, a judge said Monday that a doctor and two nurses accused of killing four desperately ill patients after Hurricane Katrina should be formally charged or exonerated. "With all due respect, I'm tired of this case," District Judge Calvin Johnson said during a hearing on whether documents in the matter should be made public. "This case needs to either go forward or end." He said he was frustrated by the length of time he has spent dealing with the case, since neither Dr. Anna Pou nor nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo have been indicted. ... Louisiana

Janelle Rucker, Shreveport Times, October 23, 2006 Conditions concerning emergency room nurses at LSU Hospital have improved a little, they say, but there is still work to be done. Members of AFSCME Union Local No. 2649 met with hospital administration and state legislators Aug. 8 to make them aware of numerous concerns about the state of the emergency room. Long wait times for patients, unsafe working conditions and conflicts with hospital administration were some of the issues raised at the meeting. ... LSU

Mary Foster, Associated Press, September 7, 2006 New Orleans - New Orleans' coroner said Thursday he has the material he needs to present findings to a grand jury that will consider indictments against a doctor and two nurses accused of killing patients in the chaotic days following Hurricane Katrina. The findings will include autopsy and toxicology reports and an official classification of the four deaths involved. Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan has said he would wait to review them before asking a grand jury to look into the deaths. ... Katrina

Two administrators put on paid leave.
Marsha Shuler, Advocate, July 7, 2006

Two top administrators are on leave while the state health agency investigates operations at the state-run psychiatric hospital in Mandeville.

The probe followed a one-day sick-out by nurses and nurses aides to protest conditions at Southeast Louisiana Hospital, the president of a volunteer group said Thursday.

The unrest has occurred as Southeast added patients in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which knocked out psychiatric hospitals in the New Orleans area. Some psychiatric staff from LSU’s charity hospital also moved from New Orleans to the St. Tammany Parish facility. ... Nurses

With their New Orleans home in ruins, a family won't be going back any time soon, if ever. But that doesn't stop the longing.
John L. Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, February 26, 2006

There are moments when Jamar Franklin feels as if it's all a bad dream and he'll wake up back in New Orleans, relaxing on the lakefront with a bowl of crawfish, coaching high school basketball and preparing to host a houseful of guests for Fat Tuesday celebrations. ... Settling

Anita Manning, USA Today, December 4, 2005

Many hospitals in the New Orleans area are short-staffed and struggling to care for a growing population of patients who are returning to their homes three months after fleeing Hurricane Katrina.

"The disaster is still really going on, in terms of health care," says Nancy Davis, chief nursing officer at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in Jefferson Parish. "We have to take all the patients who come in because so few hospitals are open, yet we don't have staff. All the hospitals that are open are in desperate need for staff." ... Gulf

Janet Guttsman, Reuters, November 30, 2005

New Orleans - New Orleans lost its hospitals to Katrina's flood waters, and now risks losing its doctors and nurses to slow recovery - leaving a big missing piece in the puzzle of putting the city back together.

The tens of thousands of residents who fled the city three months ago have dispersed to temporary homes across the country. Along with rebuilt homes, schools and other public services, adequate health care is needed to attract them back to the city. ... New Orleans

BizNewOrleans.com, November 13, 2005

New Orleans - Touro Infirmary will host a job fair this week to recruit for essential staff positions that were vacated following the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe.

The hospital is particularly in need of registered nurses, certified nursing assistants and unit secretaries along with many other staff positions.

The recruting session will be held Thursday, Nov. 17, from 10 AM to 3 PM at Touro, 1401 Fourcher St., 2nd floor.

More information is available from Debbie Reed, community relations manger, at 504-897-8789.

Brett Troxler, Advocate

Five New Orleans nurses who were fired and reported to the State Board of Nursing for abandoning patients after Hurricane Katrina are filing suit against Touro Infirmary. The nurses claim they were only following the orders of a supervisor.

"It was scary, I mean the whole ordeal was terrifying, to say the least," said Bridget Boogaerts. "I never felt safe."

Boogaerts, one of the nurses filing suit against the New Orleans hospital, said the hospital was without electricity, and food and water supplies were limited. A total of 12 people died in the hospital while she was there, and two days after the storm she and several of her fellow nurses evacuated under a supervisors orders.

"(We asked the supervisor) What about abandonment? What about our liability here?" Boogaerts said. "And she responded with this is a disaster situation, there is no abandonment by leaving. You simply would be saving your own lives. So there is no liability."