[Aaron C.]

They just said on Fox that they were going to need to bring over 4000 healthcare personnel to the area to help deal with the sick and wounded, etc.

We are already short on nurses. It will be interesting to see how this affects the current shortage of nurses and just how many nurses will be needed in the New Orleans area, as well as in Mississipi, Alabama, etc.

Additionally, the mayor of New Orleans has commented publicly now that there will possibly be THOUSANDS dead in New Orleans.


I'm sure there will be many hundreds of volunteer nurses heading into the area to help out, but I'm guessing the goverment is contracting with large temporary nurse staffing companies to get as many nurses there as they can, as quickly as they can.

[nursinghumor]

I agree Aaron. With hundreds of thousands of people displaced, starved and dehydrated, there will be lots of nursing care needed.

Anyone looking to work in those areas can call your favorite travel nursing agency or find a list of them online:

You can find plenty in Google's online directory:
http://www.google.com/Top/Health/Nursing/Employment

You can also volunteer for the Red Cross, Peace Corps, etc. I've got a list of organizations here:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/volunteer

It'll make local shortages worse for a while, but within a month or two, stabilizing medical conditions will be taken care of and they'll go back where they came from.

Finding new places for evacuees to live and find work will take a lot longer.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com