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MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST — In late October, Jackson County supervisors approved loaning $35 million to the Singing River Hospital System for projects at its two medical centers. The reconstruction project includes adding 20 beds to the Ocean Springs hospitals, bringing the total to 156 beds, and renovating and upgrading the emergency department at the 415-bed Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula.

The news, which made national headlines, signals continued rebuilding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's medical community post-Katrina. As a result of the saltwater storm surge, Hancock Medical Center, the hardest hit medical facility, suffered an estimated $11 million in damage to the facility, plus $9 million in equipment losses largely uncovered by insurance. (Despite the heavy damage, Hancock Medical remained open until a Disaster Medical Assistance Team hospital could be put in place.) Two dozen additional Mississippi hospitals sustained an estimated total of $161 million in damages.

Even though significant progress had been made by the one-year anniversary of Katrina, the coast's medical community was still broken. Slow payments, difficulty referring patients to specialists, and uncompensated care hampered providers' ability to conduct business. Frustrated, many healthcare providers left the area.

By August 2006:

• One of four physicians had left the area. Of those remaining, 90 percent had reopened their offices, yet only 60% were fully staffed.


• Healthcare leaders had determined that 2 percent of medical clinics destroyed during the storm would not be rebuilt.


• National recruiters had honed in on nurses from the Gulf Coast, luring them to out-of-state jobs with better compensation packages.

Mental Toll

By August 2008, just concerning mental health needs as a result of the nation's costliest natural disaster, healthcare providers had made more than 360,000 mental health visits to disaster victims. The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) had also facilitated mental health training for nearly 200 teachers to help preschool children cope with mental health issues caused by trauma from the brutal storm.

The federal government's $24 billion in funding to Mississippi "has been crucial in restoring health infrastructure, and providing direct mental health services to those affected by the disaster," said Gov. Haley Barbour, in his report, "Three Years after Katrina: Progress on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal."

Barbour pointed out the state has also stepped in with health recovery advancement of the region by funneling $128 million in Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) for the repair, renovation, and reconstruction of health and mental health facilities. The grants are also being used to hire and retain healthcare professionals.

In particular, Barbour set aside $10 million in SSBG funding to help hospitals along the Gulf Coast recruit and retain healthcare professionals.

Another $8 million in SSBG monies were routed to the Coastal Family Health Center to restore primary healthcare services along the coast.

Delay Factors

Recovery to the coast's medical community has been slow for many reasons, ranging from increased construction costs such as replacing sheetrock at medical facilities rather than cutting them at the water line, to ensure no traces of toxic mold remain, to "window dressing" in the media.

"Since Hurricane Katrina, medical care for residents has been poor with doctors and hospitals short staffed or often overwhelmed with patients," reported Gulf Coast News. "The situation for mental care has been far worse. The coast has high numbers of elderly and elderly visitors. Families with Alzheimer's sufferers and those who have other mental illnesses have had few resources to draw upon.

"GCN is very much aware of nearly a complete collapse of the coast's mental care services since the hurricane, and the system is still functioning without the resources needed. Mental health providers continue to report problems with lack of staffing, facilities, and funding for handling this continued crisis on the coast. Families are also still dealing with confusing and conflicting information, and inadequate facilities for the caring of mentally and physically disabled family members."

Of the five nursing homes destroyed by Katrina, none have been replaced.

"Long term care for Alzheimer's sufferers is acutely short and what facilities that are available are far from the coast," said GCN. "One Biloxi hospital shut down (last) January citing a 'lack of patients.' What's lacking isn't patients, but money, as high health insurance costs have resulted in many residents not having the money for healthcare or insurance. It's not uncommon for people who have insurance to wait for weeks for an appointment, forcing residents with illnesses to seek costly emergency room services at the hospitals that remain."

GCN also pointed out that billions of dollars allocated by the federal government to aid recovery efforts has not been hitting the ground fast enough.

"There are many reasons for this and none of them good," said GCN. "The problems with the money stem from everything from a slow bureaucracy to concerns over fraud. Federal officials are also worried that some of the money is also finding its way improperly to the hands of individuals and some companies through good ole boy networks well established in south Mississippi and in Louisiana. This cronyism is part of the culture that has been difficult to weed out over the years. Mississippi has poor laws and inadequate regulations to ferret out corruption and observers have worried that the relief effort is a windfall for some people. That's not to say the federal help and the donated money is being wasted. The scale of the disaster is such that it takes great effort to identify and work through the problems."

Barbour noted in his three-year post-Katrina report: "We always knew that it would take years to recover from the worst natural disaster in American history."

Tags:

Baptist for Women, Baptist Medical Center, Cardiovascular Center, Haley Barbour, Katrina, Kurt W. Metzner, Mississippi Department of Human Services, Singing River Hospital System, Steve Jackson

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