New Orleans’ area hospitals began preparing for Hurricane Gustav by stocking up on food and medical supplies and activating their disaster plans. It looks like hospitals are trying to learn from the painful lessons of the past. During Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans hospitals didn’t have enough fuel to run for more than a few days. At least 140 people died in hospitals three years ago, when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Officials said the situation has improved since then. At Tulane Medical Center, only 450 patients, staff and family members are expected to remain in the hospital, compared to 1,600 three years ago. This time, only the sickest patients will remain at the hospital. Patients were flown to hospitals outside the area threatened by the hurricane.

The hospital has installed hurricane-proof satellite dishes and brought in cellphones from other area codes to prevent the situation that occurred three years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, when mobile phones with local area codes failed. “We”ve got a lot of ways to communicate. We won’t be cut off,” Bob Lynch, Tulane Medical Center’s CEO, said.

During Katrina generators at some hospitals were flooded. To prevent this situation, additional generators have been installed in the parking garage’s top floor to be safe from flooding. The other generators are protected with a flood wall and a sump pump to remove any water that seeps in.

At New Orleans Children’s Hospital only eighty patients remained. The hospital added helipad and more underground diesel tanks, spokesman Brian Landry said. “We have 80,000 gallons of diesel in the ground,” enough to power backup generators for 28 days, the spokesman said.

Children’s Hospital also constructed a helicopter landing pad. During Katrina, they had to use a football field at the high school next door, to land copters.

The Ochsner Health System, which has five hospitals in the New Orleans area, is keeping the three largest open, spokeswoman Katherine Voss said. West Jefferson Medical Center evacuated its lower floors, moving or evacuating most of its patients. All elective surgeries were canceled Friday, but the hospital will continue to perform emergency procedures. Patients suffering with chest pain and possible heart attacks will continue to present to our emergency room and require special procedures, West Jefferson’s chief executive officer, Nancy Cassagne, said.

The National Hurricane Center announced Hurricane Gustav was about 360 kilometres south-east of New Orleans, and warned of isolated tornadoes. Gustav killed more than 80 people across the Caribbean in recent days. The dangerous hurricane is expected to grow into a Category 5 danger. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called it „the storm of the century” and demanded a quick evacuation of New Orleans, meant to protect the city’s residents from the wrath of the hurricane.

Officials evacuated more than 1 million residents along the coast from Alabama to Texas. Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States crashing the region and the lives of more than 1800 people. Tens of thousands of people lost their homes and specialists wondered whether or not the region would ever recover. Three years after the terrible disaster, people still face health problems, whether physical, mental, health care coverage or problems with a child’s health.