Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is cooperating with state and federal agencies to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Wake Forest Baptist has offered to take patients from hospitals affected by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi, and to send medical personnel to help treat hurricane victims.
“Our institution is fully cooperating with state and federal agencies to offer our assistance,” said Preston Miller, M.D., chairman of the Wake Forest Baptist Disaster Committee, which is coordinating the center’s response. “We have offered our facilities and services to help.”
Medical Center emergency response personnel are in touch with federal officials who are organizing the evacuation of hospital patients from the hurricane-stricken area. There are reports that patients from the stricken region will be transported to North Carolina and taken to the Charlotte and Raleigh areas. The two airports mentioned are the drop-off points designated by the government. From there the patients would be sent to hospitals as directed by the government.
We are in contact with the federal agency responsible for these efforts, of which we are a member, and we have made it clear that we stand ready to accept patients. The Medical Center has not yet been notified that it will receive patients.
Some Medical Center personnel have volunteered to help in Louisiana and Mississippi and are leaving this week. Others will go in the coming weeks and months.
Media Contacts: Ann Hopkins, prtemp@wfubmc.edu, Mark Wright, mwright@wfubmc.edu, or Robert Conn, rconn@wfubmc.edu, at 336-716-4587.