Rebuilding Geriatric Medicine and Training at Louisiana State University: A Response to the Flooding

Grant Summary

The John A. Hartford Foundation has awarded a grant to provide salary support for geriatric health care workers in New Orleans and to support the re-establishment of the geriatric medicine fellows program at Louisiana State University Health Science Center in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster. Most of the health care facilities in New Orleans were destroyed and medical personnel dispersed, leaving little qualified health care for elders, and academic training programs for geriatricians were upturned in the wake of the disaster. This grant is one of two authorized in September 2006 to support the care of elders in Louisiana and the Gulf States region following Hurricane Katrina. This grant will provide funding over two years to augment the salaries of a nurse practitioner and two geriatricians to provide medical care at the University Hospital and affiliated nursing homes in New Orleans. Support will also be provided over four years to re-establish the geriatric medicine fellows program at Louisiana State University Health Science Center starting in July 2007, the state's only program training geriatricians. It is expected that after five years and construction of a new University Hospital, a steady clinical income stream should be in place to sustain geriatric medicine service and teaching going forward. The impact of Hurricane Katrina on geriatric medicine in New Orleans was catastrophic. Health care facilities in the city were decimated when the medical district was flooded for a period of more than two weeks and at least two of the four hospitals in the area were condemned. Few facilities survived intact with personnel to provide care for elders, but University Hospital was partially reopened in June 2006 and a new facility will be constructed and open within the next five years. Moreover, the structure for training geriatricians in Louisiana has been completely upturned with Tulane University permanently closing its geriatric medicine training program and Louisiana State University Health Science Center having to restructure, thus necessitating funding to help ensure the continuation of training programs to meet the needs of the state"s older population.