Two New Orleans hospitals plead for help

Where to go is a problem
When patients have been evacuated, where to take them becomes the next big decision.

“They’re having to make strategic decisions about where to send people literally in midair,” said John Matessino, president of the Louisiana Hospital Association. “It’s a very difficult thing to prioritize when they’re all a priority.”

Knox Andress, an emergency nurse who is regional coordinator for a federal emergency preparedness grant covering the state, said it’s impossible to underestimate the critical role hospitals are playing for anyone left in the city.

“They’re running out of their medications, they’re running out of money. They’re having social issues and where do they go? They go to the hospital. The hospital is the backbone of the community because the lights are always on,” he said.

When hospitals can’t take care of people and the rescuers need rescued, there’s no social fabric left, Andress said.

Hospitals weren’t the only facilities with troubles.

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who has been working with search and rescue, confirmed that 30 people died at a nursing home in St. Bernard Parish and 30 others were being evacuated. He did not give any further details.

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