[StBernard] 150 VA nurses, other workers to help other hospitals

[Westley Annis]

/5/2006, 5:44 p.m. CT 
 
The Associated Press
 
 	 	
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - About 150 Veterans Administration nurses and other health
care professionals who have been working around the country since Hurricane
Katrina are returning to New Orleans to work at four area hospitals, the VA
announced Wednesday.
 
Hospitals around the area have been short-staffed since the hurricane hit
Aug. 29. 
Without the VA help, the hospitals would have to close the limited number of
beds now open, and the City of New Orleans would have to cut health
services, said Dr. Jack Finn, president of the Metropolitan Hospital
Council.
 
The council is managing the Federal Emergency Management Agency order which
lets the VA employees work outside the agency.
 
The assignments to Tulane Medical Center, East and West Jefferson General
Hospitals, and Meadowcrest Hospital will last through September, said Dr.
Robert E. Lynch, director of the South Central VA Health Care Network.
 
"This will allow VA employees to return to New Orleans to rebuild their
homes and lives, will help to maintain their clinical skills and will also
reaffirm the VA's commitment in helping to restore the New Orleans
community," Lynch said in a prepared statement.
 
In addition to nurses, some of the other professionals will include health
technicians, respiratory therapists and radiology technicians.
 
The VA plans to bring back some inpatient services in the fall.
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