Physicians’ relief efforts choked by bureaucracy
Physicians’ relief efforts choked by bureaucracy
In Baton Rouge, LA, physicians and surgeons swarmed from all parts of the country to offer hurricane relief, only to encounter bureaucratic nightmares that left them sitting around for several 10-hour days and, in many cases, returning home in frustration.
Kirk W. Long, executive director of the Louisiana Ambulatory Surgery Association and CEO of The NeuroMedical Center Surgical Hospital in Baton Rouge, sent out a nationwide plea for medical help after the hurricane and offered housing at his facility. He developed the concept of a "mobile unit/strike team" consisting of a physician and a couple of nurses who would go by ambulance into the hurricane-stricken areas.
"The infrastructure wasn’t there to process them and get them to needed areas," he says. After spending two days implementing the plan, Long was told that the emergency preparedness office had changed leaders and he had to start anew.
Communication was a major problem because law enforcement and emergency agencies were depending on cell phones that didn’t work. "Modern technology is very delicate," he warns. "When all the towers go down, you don’t have it."
Long streamlined the credentialing process for the physicians who responded to his call for help. When he couldn’t make progress with the government officials, he sent physicians to shelters. However, the shelter staff started saying they didn’t need medical help. "There were neurosurgeons who were told to sweep the floor," Long says.
Other medical staff people were turned away. "And there were people dying out there," he recalls.
Some physicians and other surgical staff who skirted the credentialing process were able to reach those outlying areas and take care of patients, he notes. "A lot of [other] people volunteered their time and expertise and did not get used appropriately," Long says. "It was very frustrating for everyone. There was an enormous amount of resources wasted."
Long hopes that the next disaster is handled more adeptly. "I’ll lend my voice to the roar that is crying for a complete overhaul for the emergency response system," he says.
In Baton Rouge, LA, physicians and surgeons swarmed from all parts of the country to offer hurricane relief, only to encounter bureaucratic nightmares that left them sitting around for several 10-hour days and, in many cases, returning home in frustration.Subscribe Now for Access
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