Last month’s hurricane hit the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston particularly hard, with the institution suffering $700 million in damage:
It cannot begin to take on patients, open up wings and generate revenue until it repairs critical operations like its blood bank, pharmacy, kitchens and radiology department, but it lacks the millions needed for the repairs, and so far the federal and state governments have not come through with aid.
The hospital provided most of the charity care throughout the region, and was considered a top nationwide trauma program.
To rub salt in the wounds, it was announced yesterday that almost 4,000 people would be laid off. As the largest employer in the island, this will further hurt recovery efforts.
Related posts:
- Physicians sue Louisiana over Hurricane Katrina reimbursement
- The Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency Department and Trauma Center
- Is the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston recovering from Hurricane Ike?
- Courts Overturns Key Part of San Fransisco’s Universal Coverage
- Schwarzenegger Passes Spending Bill For Socialized Medicine
- Tufts Medical Center versus Blue Cross Blue Shield, who blinked?
- Treating the uninsured in New Orleans
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It is normal to lay off people who aren’t working. I saw this with Big Charity in New Orleans. They kept people on the state payroll for months when there was no work for them them there–meanwhile volunteers were taking care of refugees at shelters. It was ridiculous. The health care personel who were on the state payroll should have been offered work where there was work to be done, take it or leave it, and those with no work layed off like everyone else in the work force.
The funny thing was, it really didn’t do them any favors to keep their checks coming–most of the ones I know just sort of zombied out waiting and hoping that they would go back to work–not really accepting that they needed to do something else until the checks stopped coming in.
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