A US hospital chief who was stranded with 2,000 patients and staff awaiting evacuation after Hurricane Katrina, has shared his experiences with local health professionals to help prepare them for a similar disaster.
Dr Richard Deichmann was invited by UQ's School of Medicine to present a lecture entitled “Disaster Preparedness: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina”.
The lecture was held at UQ’s Herston campus on September 16, and was attended by health professionals and the general public.
Dr Deichmann, who was the Chief of Medicine at the Memorial Medical Centre, faced a week-long ordeal supervising the evacuation by helicopter and boats from the flooded 350-bed facility.
He recounted the challenges faced and reported on the “devastating effects of the catastrophe on the community and its medical infrastructure”.
Dr Deichmann said it was important to share the lessons learned from Katrina so that “leaders, physicians, and public health experts may better prepare for the next disaster”.
Dr Diechmann is a physician, teacher, clinical researcher and Associate Medical Director for Adult Primary Care at Ochsner Medical Centre in New Orleans.
He is also a staff member of The University of Queensland’s Ochsner Clinical School and from 2010 will be coordinating the clinical teaching of UQ’s third-year medical students undertaking their general practice rotation in New Orleans.
Dr Deichmann's book, Code Blue: A Katrina Physician’s Memoir, gives a detailed account of the rapidly deteriorating state of affairs at the hospital after Katrina hit.
Media: Marlene McKendry (07 3346 4713, m.mckendry@uq.edu.au) or Shane Higgins (07 3365 5032, s.higgins1@uq.edu.au)
