One Year Later: Health Care Crisis

One of the Gulf institutions ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was the region's health care system. One year after the storm, the situation remains dire, in large part due to the glacial piece of rebuilding and recovery in the region.

Here's a snapshot of where things stand for health care in the Gulf. This is a preview from the Institute's upcoming report, "One Year After Katrina," which will be released next week as part of the Institute's Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch project:

Number of hospitals in Orleans Parish before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: 22

Number operating as of August 2006: 11

Number of months it took for New Orleans resident Janette Trembus to receive a letter saying her mother’s neurologist had moved to another state, after a failed attempt to refill her mother’s Parkinson’s medication: 2

Percent of New Orleans-area doctors no longer submitting claims to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana: 75

Number of years the Charity Hospital system provided health care for the disadvantaged and uninsured: 270

Number of years New Orleans residents will have to wait for the opening of a $1.2 billion complex medical complex meant to replace Charity Hospital: 5

Number of HIV/AIDS patients served by outpatient clinics in the Charity Hospital system before the storms: 3,500

Number currently receiving care: 1,200

Number of calls involving mentally ill people that the New Orleans Police Department Mobile Crisis Unit receives each week: 180

Number of psychiatric in-patient beds in the New Orleans area prior to the hurricanes: 450

Number available as of August 2006: 80

Estimated number of post-traumatic stress disorder cases in the state of Louisiana this year: 300,000

Number of years John McCusker, a Pulitzer-winning photographer, worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune before he was arrested trying to force local police to kill him after he found out insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of rebuilding his home: 20

Approximate percent increase in New Orleans’ suicide rate since Katrina: 300

("Health Care Index," One Year After Katrina (Institute for Southern Studies/Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch, August 2006)