Reply #20: from above link

[steve2470]

Emergency generators at Charity and University hospitals out of fuel

By Jan M oller
Staff writer

The emergency generators at Charity and University hospitals in downtown New Orleans ran out of fuel and shut down at 8 a.m. today, worsening an already intolerable situation for about 350 patients and more than 1,000 doctors, nurses and evacuees who sought shelter there.

Donald Smithburg, who heads Louisiana State University's Health Care Services Division, said he's been told that fuel is available a few blocks from the hospitals' downtown New Orleans campus, but that authorities have not yet figured out how to transport it through the flooded streets to the hospitals.


"It's my understanding that the fuel is nearby, it's just a problem of getting to it,'' Smithburg said. "I think the state is as frustrated as we are in findings ways to get it transported just a few blocks.''

The hospitals, which host the only Level 1 trauma center in southeast Louisiana and also serve as teaching hospitals for LSU's medical school, lost power during Katrina and lost use of their main emergency generator due to flooding. Since then, they had been receiving power from a number of smaller generators that have been used to support essential medical equipment.

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