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Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf Coast will have diffuse, incalculable long-term ramifications for the entire country. Failures of appropriate planning and response have been extensively chronicled, so that it seems as though nothing went right.
But amongst the tragedy and failures were examples of people and organizations functioning selflessly, efficiently, and effectively to care for others and themselves.
LUCK, STRATEGY, AND FLEXIBILITY
I feel compelled to relate one such example, that of my organization, the Ochsner Clinic Foundation, a multispecialty, comprehensive health care institution with more than 600 physicians and 7,000 employees working in facilities throughout south Louisiana. The largest is on Jefferson Highway, just across the Jefferson Parish line, in what is still considered metro New Orleans. Operating in a hurricane-prone region, the institution has long had plans and procedures in place to deal with severe weather and its aftermath.
Even though 5,000 of its employees were negatively impacted, with many sustaining damage to or complete loss of their homes, the Ochsner Jefferson Highway facility never stopped functioning. Major surgery was performed on the day of the storm, and medical staff cared for patients and each other in the difficult days that followed. When traditional communications were not available, Ochsner personnel used red garbage bags to make an "open" sign on the parking garage, proclaiming the availability of health care to those in need.
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Certainly a major contributor to Ochsner's ability to remain functioning was its location on what COO Warner Thomas called the "lip of the bowl of the city." Nevertheless, floodwaters did come within a block of the facility. Thomas also attributed about 50% of the positive outcome to extensive strategic planning and preparation and to the adaptability of the leadership and personnel.
BEING PREPARED
Planning included an on-call team A that functioned during and after the storm. Other medical staff were urged to evacuate to safety. Ultimately, in addition to hospitalized patients and some of their family, the institution housed more than 1,000 staff and family members, even pets, in a small on-campus hotel, atrium areas, waiting rooms, and offices.
Medical personnel continued to care for patients while the administrative leadership focused on providing the resources needed to do so and ensuring workers' adequate nutrition, basic hygiene, and safety. They deployed generators deliberately placed at a height to prevent flood damage and obtained backup water sources and extensive food supplies.
One of the three generators did fail, and a number of hospitalized patients were discharged or transferred to hospitals outside the city. But at least a third of the patients remained and continued to receive care. Temperatures approached 100°F. It was several days until patients had air conditioning, and even longer before air conditioning resumed in areas housing staff and their families. To conserve potable water, water from wells installed for just such a situation was used for showers.
EFFECTIVE AND VISIBLE LEADERS
The leadership—including the CEO, COO, CIO, medical director, laboratory chief, and others—were ever present, responding appropriately to changing situations, communicating comprehensively, and encouraging the medical staff and their families.
Ochsner Clinic Foundation used its regional facility in Baton Rouge, a city that literally doubled in population after Katrina, to stage the team B employees who were safely bused to New Orleans as needed to relieve team A.
Many of Ochsner's patients from New Orleans evacuated to Baton Rouge, and the leadership redeployed personnel to its Baton Rouge facilities to provide for their care. The endocrinology ambulatory clinic, for example, reopened first in Baton Rouge and later in New Orleans. Ochsner Clinic Foundation's electronic medical record system came back online after the third day, facilitating transfer of patient information to wherever patients were being seen in the system.
Those of us who evacuated also were supported by the Ochsner administration. The Ochsner Web site and a Web-based email system remained almost continuously functional. Landline phone systems were used to broadcast "state of Ochsner" messages that provided regular, accurate, and helpful information about the institution's current status and future plans. Ochsner personnel were asked to register their location, contact information, and availability to return to work, data that the leadership used to restaff as patient-care needs and housing availability dictated.
Like other organizations, the Ochsner Clinic Foundation has numerous
campaigns promoting its career benefits. One emphasizes personal growth and
opportunity. It ends with the words, "My Employer, My Choice."
Under one of these signs an employee added, "My Family." Ochsner
Clinic Foundation indeed functioned as a family to rise above incredible
hardship and fulfill its mission of caring. 
Footnotes
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