Katrina Revisited

In touring the Katrina Hurricane disaster in New Orleans, it was President Winspear's intention to evaluate what effective response, if any, PFA could make that would be more effective than mere lip service or throwing money at the recovery. In the time since his report, several dental supply companies have responded to Dr. Winspear's Appeal to Action.

John O'Connor, Vice President for Sales for Hu-Freidy has come forth and sent instruments to the New Orleans Department of Health. Secretary General Richard Kozal approached them at the Chicago MidWinter Meeting and Hu-Freidy responded. Patterson Dental Company is going through their inventory to donate excess dental supplies and equipment. Patterson was a big contributor of materials shortly after the storm.

A retired oral surgeon from Minnesota, after reading the President's Message, contacted the Central Office about contributing his instruments to New Orleans.

President Winspear also was able to generate some further ADA response, while Vice President Charles Eller has done the same lobbying with similar results.

The City of New Orleans Department of Health has thanked the Academy for their actions and interest in their plight. And all of this is due to the aggressive actions taken by our Australian President directing an idea he had for PFA involvement.

Meanwhile, Louisiana State University has refurbished their School of Dentistry and is preparing to move back to New Orleans. The dental school hadmoved to a smaller clinic in Baton Rouge to continue educating its students, but Dean Eric Hovland states that ''the time has come to move beyond Katrina and cast our vision for the next 3 to 5 years.''

The hurricane flood waters severely damaged the infrastructure; $4 million in donations and insurance helped keep the dental program going. Now FEMA is expecting to spend about $50 billion to rebuild LSU's entire New Orleans operation, which includes the LSU Medical Center.