The day after Hurricane Katrina hit, the situation inside Charity Hospital was desperate. Water surrounded the seventy-year old building, power was gone, and the backup generators were flooded.
With the water rising, Dr. Peter DeBlieux and his staff set up a makeshift emergency department in a second-floor auditorium for fifty critically ill patients, carrying the sick up the stairs in the stifling heat.
“In the space of an hour and a half, we moved our entire emergency room up one flight of stairs,” said Dr. DeBlieux. “Using flashlights, we jerryrigged ventilators to breathe for people. It was amazing.”
In their own words, LSU Hospitals staff describe events in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Click a photo below to learn more.
