New Orleans' Public Hospitals are Unsalvageable, Officials Say.

[arnisador]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051005/ap_on_re_us/katrina_charity_hospitals

Smithburg, chief executive of the Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division, said floods and winds did more than $340 million in damage at Charity Hospital, and $105 million at University Hospital.
"The buildings have unsafe air to breathe, pervasive mold growing, and mechanical systems that were completely destroyed by the storm," Smithburg said.

The two hospitals treated more than 500,000 patients a year.

Another comment in the story raises the suspicion, to my mind, that N.O. officials are hoping to get new hospitals bevcause they needed them anyway:

"Even before the storms, these old facilities were on the ropes," he said, noting that Charity was built in the 1930s and University in the 1960s.

Still, that's a lot of money and a real problem while they are being rebuilt or replaced.

 

[arnisador]

And on the other side of luck:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051006/ap_on_re_us/katrina_millionaire

OPELOUSAS, La. - After more than a month of living with dozens of displaced relatives in Opelousas, Jacquelyn Sherman, an evacuee from New Orleans, told her niece she was depressed.

That all changed when she won $1.6 million — before taxes — playing a slot machine at Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino.

 

[mrhnau]

And on the other side of luck:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051006/ap_on_re_us/katrina_millionaire

Lets hope this does not encourage others from Katrina to go blow their savings!

MrH

 

[arnisador]

Yeah, lotteries and casinos are a tax on the poor--I really believe that.

But I'm working for Uncle Sam this year and we'll have cutbacks because of things like the hospitals and the president's pledge not to raise taxes to pay for the damage.