Hurricane spurs physician response and support

AMA Leader Commentary. By Duane M. Cady, MD, Oct. 3, 2005.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from the chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, Duane M. Cady, MD

Although it's been a little more than a month since Hurricane Katrina paved its path of destruction throughout the Gulf Coast, the photographs still haunt me:

A woman crying near the body of her dead husband, waiting for someone -- anyone -- to take away his remains.

Highways filled with people fleeing on foot, carrying nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

Destitute mothers holding hungry babies. Whole neighborhoods laid waste.

But even in the midst of the devastation and despair, I did see a glimmer of hope. I saw it in the dedicated work of health professionals, and especially in the efforts of my fellow physicians.

In New Orleans and other affected areas, physicians, nurses and others gave their all to patients under the most primitive, even dangerous, conditions imaginable.

These men and women carried on in the face of power outages, food and water shortages, skeleton staffs -- even the threat of violence.

They counted IV drips to ensure patients received the right dose of medication, waded through fetid water to get medical supplies, and set up impromptu clinics in the unlikeliest of locations -- including one in a Kmart parking lot.

At the same time, physicians from across the United States also scrambled to help. These physicians screened evacuees for health problems at the Houston Astrodome, vaccinated children at field hospitals across the Gulf Coast, provided counseling and mental health services -- and so much more.

Still other physicians from across the country inundated the AMA with phone calls to find out how they could put their skills to work. In response to this outpouring of concern, we began working with the Dept. of Health and Human Services as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an effort to establish a national medical relief effort.