205761 Post-Katrina New Orleans: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Gustav City Assisted Evacuation Plan

Monday, November 9, 2009: 8:45 AM

Adriene J. Gill, RN, MN , Health Department, City of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Douglas W. Cross, DDS , Health Department, City of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Evangeline Franklin, MD, MPH , Health Department, City of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Mosanda Mvula, MD, MPH , City of New Orleans Health Department, New Orleans, LA
     
Background: Response to Hurricane Katrina can be criticized at every level. As a result, 1,400 people died in New Orleans, and many lost everything. The 2008 Hurricane Season changed to evacuate the city completely rather than provide a shelter.

Method: The New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) worked with the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness (NOOEP) and 311 Call Center to identify and pretriage citizens for appropriate transportation out of the city. Before the beginning of Hurricane Season 2008, citizens were notified to call into the 311 Call Center. Those requiring triage by NOHD staff were assigned to the appropriate public evacuation method, bus, train or lifeflight. Family members were consulted. When mandatory evacuation was called, an emergency triage center was setup in 311 to operate around the clock to take latecallers until high winds shut down the process.

Results: Of the 95% of citizens who evacuated, 20,000 received public transportation. Of these, 6792 citizens pre-registered via the 311 process. Citizens with medical needs were successfully triaged and transported according to their medical needs.

Conclusion: The evacuation plan signified a critical improvement to protect the lives of the most vulnerable of New Orleans citizens. Continuing issues are identifying and triaging the most needy, assuring that the debarkation location has information to improve their plan and assuring safe transport to the receiving location and back to New Orleans.

Learning Objectives:
Learning Objectives: - Identify, assess and triage vulnerable populations requiring public assistance in evacuation - Describe methods of working with reviewing afteraction reports to improve the process - Develop electronic databases to case manage this population over time

Keywords: Disasters, Community Response

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the coordinator of the project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Preparation, Surviving, and Recovering from Natural Disasters
See more of: Community Health Planning and Policy Development