Disaster Recovery News

In a recently settled class action lawsuit, Tenet Healthcare Corporation recently settled for $25 million. The number of individuals who participated in the lawsuit is unknown, but those in the class claimed that New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center lack of emergency preparedness caused an unreasonable amount of harm when 2005’s Hurricane Katrina devastated the area.

The Real Cost

An article by ProPublica states that there were almost 1,000 individuals in the hospitals, not counting hospital staff. Out of this population, 187 of the individuals were patients. When the disasters caused by Hurricane Katrina occurred, the backup generators in the hospital failed and help in the form of rescue helicopters did not arrive until two days after the natural disaster. The article reports that the hospital sought the help of the Coast Guard, National Guard, several government and private ambulance companies and FEMA, but the response was frenzied. In the end, rescue workers found 45 bodies at the Memorial Medical Center.

Nation-Wide Unpreparedness

Hurricane Katrina opened the eyes of several health care systems. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reported in May 2011 that out of all of the hospitals that participated in the 2009 National Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), only 76 percent of the hospitals met 90 percent of the all-hazards preparedness criteria. While this number is an improvement compared to 2005’s figures, only 85 percent of the more than 6,000 hospitals in the U.S. take advantage of and participate in the HPP.

What’s at Stake for Your Business?

Emergency preparedness and recovery is not just a topic medical centers need to consider, as all businesses are responsible for ensuring the well-being of those on their property if the unthinkable happens. Preparing for the worst can mean the difference between saving the lives or wishing you had taken the time to create an emergency disaster plan. If you are currently not prepared for a disaster, what would a devastating event cost you and your business?

Learn more about developing a plan for your business from the experts.

[Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center]

Photo taken after Hurrican Katrina by the U.S. Army

When Hurricane Katrina caused extensive flooding in the state of Louisiana in 2005, the waters were an equal-opportunity offender. As a result, the St. Bernard Parish Courthouse also received extensive flood water damage as 3 feet of water just sat in the building.

In an attempt to keep business operating, courthouse staff found other parts of the building to work in as they picked through important wet documents in an attempt to salvage them. Business continuity led the courthouse staff to another worksite after extensive mold damage was discovered in the 70-year-old building’s walls and air ducts, and the chronically leaky roof did not make matters any better.

Big Mistakes

One dire mistake was made after Hurricane Katrina: no restoration specialists were called in to remediate the mold damage as soon as it was discovered. After only the floors and walls were merely wiped down (which probably helped spread the mold instead of kill it), the mold was never looked at until now.

A second mistake is that employees were allowed to work in the building before assessing health and safety risks, which means they were exposed to molds. Then employees were allowed back into the building to continue operations. Because of the lack of mold remediation, toxic spores were found. Nola.com reports that mold was found virtually everywhere in the building, but employees are not expected to have “any major health problem”.

The entire courthouse staff is going to have to be relocated until the mold remediation process is complete. Read more about this story.

Cleaning Mold

After there is water damage to any building, the building and its contents need to be dried ASAP. If not, mold will take over. If the drying process is not done correctly, mold will take over. One of the best things a business can do is call in a remediation specialist to help with this process; doing this will help ensure one is back in business quickly.

More on mold remediation.

FEMA has been creating and improving upon disaster housing solutions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the highly criticized trailers that caused people to fall ill. The new and improved trailers feature an adhesive with less formaldehyde in them. They also come in several varieties of beige colors. The travel-trailers are also clean and do not have shutters.

FEMA housed one million displaced, homeless citizens after Hurricane Katrina caused unlivable conditions in homes only to find the emergency housing caused breathing problems, frequent headaches, nosebleeds, and other illnesses. The culprit was the formaldehyde used in what was thought to be a more cost-effective glue product in the manufacturing of the mobile homes and trailers.

The trailers will be undergoing tests for 6 to 12 months by students at the National Emergency Training Center. One of the insulation products being tested includes sheep’s wool, which is thought to absorb formaldehyde. Testers will see if the levels of formaldehyde increase with time if one cooks or smokes in the trailers. Air quality standards are in place for mobile homes in the United States, but not for travel-trailers.

More on what has been done to improve trailers that will serve as emergency housing.

Learn more about recovering after a hurricane.