A need for care in New Orleans

Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city faces a shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds for the most vulnerable: the poor, the uninsured and those who are grappling with mental illness and substance abuse.
While the well-insured may eventually locate a doctor, even if they have to leave the city, patients without resources may miss out on care, says Frederick Cerise, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

The loss of health services for the needy is keenly felt in this city, where the storm destroyed thousands of homes and livelihoods and left many people with deep psychological wounds, says Karen DeSalvo, chief of general internal medicine at Tulane University Health Sciences Center.

The five conditions most often diagnosed in the uninsured in 2005 involved mental illnesses and substance abuse, according to a new report from the Louisiana health care Redesign Collaborative, which advises the governor on a plan for the region's medical care.

from USA Today