States said no to storm help

WASHINGTON – Poor planning and communication plagued FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina, a top agency official said Monday, acknowledging that other federal departments’ offers to help rescue storm victims went unheard or were ignored.

But new documents released hours later showed that state officials, in at least some cases, initially turned down federal assistance as the Aug. 29 storm bore down on the Gulf Coast.

Two days before Katrina hit, offers by the Department of Health and Human Services to help evacuate or move Louisiana patients were turned down by the state’s health emergency preparedness director, according to an internal e-mail.

The state official, identified in the Aug. 27 e-mail as Dr. Roseanne Pratts, “responded no, that they do not require anything at this time and they would be in touch if and when they needed assistance,” HHS senior policy analyst Erin Fowler wrote.

But in an interview Monday night, Louisiana Medical Director Dr. Jimmy Guidry said HHS was helping state health officials plan for evacuating hospitals and nursing homes by the eve of the storm. The federal department also stayed after Katrina hit to help the state coordinate transportation assets, like ambulances and military vehicles, Guidry said.

At the time of the HHS e-mail, Guidry said, the state was still weighing “what the needs would be” for patient safety – including those whom officials initially did not want to move for fear of worsening their conditions. “At that point in time, there was no request as to any kind of evacuation,” Guidry said.

At least 40 bodies, many of them elderly patients, were found inside a flooded New Orleans hospital after Katrina hit. Additionally, 34 patients at a nursing home near New Orleans died Aug. 29 in the wake of massive flooding brought by the storm’s surge. The nursing home’s owners have been charged with negligent homicide for failing to evacuate. The e-mail was released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is investigating the government’s response to Katrina. It also released a Senate interview of Louisiana Transportation Secretary Johnny Bradberry, during which he told investigators that “we have done nothing to fulfill this responsibility” of ensuring evacuation plans are in place for at-risk populations.