Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 4 , Pages 515-527 , April 2009

Houston's Medical Disaster Response to Hurricane Katrina: Part 2: Transitioning From Emergency Evacuee Care to Community Health Care

  • Douglas R. Hamilton, MD, PhD, MSc Eng

      Affiliations

    • Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Houston, TX
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Douglas R. Hamilton, MD, PhD, MSc Eng, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 3701 Kirby, Suite 600, Houston, TX 77098; 713-477-6851, fax 713-798-3644
    • ,
  • Thomas Gavagan, MD

      Affiliations

    • Northeastern Medical School, Chicago, IL
    • ,
  • Kieran Smart, MD

      Affiliations

    • FSU College of Medicine, Sarasota, and Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health, Sarasota, FL
    • ,
  • Nancy Weller, BSN, DrPH

      Affiliations

    • Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Lori A. Upton, RN, BSN, MS

      Affiliations

    • Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Douglas A. Havron, RN, BSN, MS

      Affiliations

    • Southeast Texas Trauma Advisory Regional Council, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Avrim Fishkind, MD

      Affiliations

    • Mental Health Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • David Persse, MD

      Affiliations

    • City of Houston's Emergency Medical Services, Houston, TX
    • ,
  • Paul Shank, MBA

      Affiliations

    • San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center, Alamosa, CO
    • ,
  • Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services, Alamosa, CO
    • ,
  • Kenneth Mattox, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery/Harris County Hospital District Division, Houston, TX

Received 27 March 2008 ,Revised 28 May 2008 ,Accepted 25 September 2008.

References 

  1. United States Senate. Statement of Robert A. Eckels, County Judge, Harris County, Texas, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on recovering from Hurricane Katrina: responding to the needs of the displaced, today and tomorrow. 2005;September 28 http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/ACFEBF8.pdfAccessed November 25, 2008
  2. Greenough PG, Kirsch TD. Hurricane Katrina (Public health response—assessing needs). N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1544–1546
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance for illness and injury after Hurricane Katrina—three counties, Mississippi, September 5-October 11, 2005. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2006;55:231–234
  4. Legome E, Robins A, Rund DA. Injuries associated with floods: the need for an international reporting scheme. Disasters. 1995;19:50–54
  5. Noji EK. Public health issues in disasters. Crit Care Med. 2005;33:S29–S33
  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Morbidity and mortality associated with Hurricane Floyd—North Carolina, September-October 1999. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2000;49:369–372
  7. Shultz JM, Russell J, Espinel Z. Epidemiology of tropical cyclones: the dynamics of disaster, disease, and development. Epidemiol Rev. 2005;27:21–35
  8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monitoring poison control center data to detect health hazards during hurricane season—Florida, 2003-2005. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2006;55:426–428
  9. Sheppa CM, Stevens J, Philbrick JT, et al. The effect of a class IV hurricane on emergency department operations. Am J Emerg Med. 1993;11:464–467
  10. Jani AA, Fierro M, Kiser S, et al. Hurricane Isabel-related mortality—Virginia, 2003. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2006;12:97–102
  11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance for illness and injury after hurricane Katrina—New Orleans, Louisiana, September 8-25, 2005. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;54:1018–1021
  12. Chiou-Tan FY, Bloodworth DM, Kass JS, et al. Physical medicine and rehabilitation conditions in the Astrodome clinic after hurricane Katrina. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2007;86:762–769
  13. Alson R, Alexander D, Leonard RB, et al. Analysis of medical treatment at a field hospital following Hurricane Andrew, 1992. Ann Emerg Med. 1993;22:1721–1728
  14. Quinn B, Baker R, Pratt J. Hurricane Andrew and a pediatric emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. 1994;23:737–741
  15. Longmire AW, Ten Eyck RP. Morbidity of Hurricane Frederic. Ann Emerg Med. 1984;13:334–338
  16. Longmire AW, Burch J, Broom LA. Morbidity of Hurricane Elena. South Med J. 1988;81:1343–1346
  17. Harris County. Harris County Joint Information Center Web site. August 31, 2005, to September 25, 2005 http://www.hcjic.org/default.aspAccessed November 25, 2008
  18. Palacio H, Shah U, Kilborn C, et al. Norovirus outbreak among evacuees from Hurricane Katrina—Houston, Texas, September 2005. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;54:1016–1018
  19. Gavagan TF, Smart K, Palacio H, et al. Hurricane Katrina: medical response at the Houston Astrodome/Reliant Center Complex. South Med J. 2006;99:933–939
  20. Yee EL, Palacio H, Atmar RL, et al. Widespread outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis among evacuees of Hurricane Katrina residing in a large “megashelter” in Houston, Texas: lessons learned for prevention. Clin Infect Dis. 2007;44:1032–1039
  21. Upton LA, Frost MH, Havron DH. Operationalizing a regional unified medical command. J Homeland Security Emerg Manage. 2006;3:article 7 http://works.bepress.com/cmoc/1/Accessed November 25, 2008
  22. Department of Health and Human Services. Hurricane Katrina bulletin: HIPAA privacy and disclosures in emergency situations. September 2, 2005 http://www.cms.hhs.gov/Emergency/Downloads/katrinahipaapolicy.pdfAccessed November 25, 2008

 Supervising editor: Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH

 Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.

 Publication dates: Available online January 10, 2009.

 Reprints not available from the authors.

PII: S0196-0644(08)01909-4

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.10.024

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 4 , Pages 515-527 , April 2009

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