September 14, 2004 New Orleans Area Heath Offices Close

BATON ROUGE, Sep 14, 2004 - Due to local evacuation orders, the New Orleans Regional Office of Public Health has closed. During this time the office is unable to accept phone calls. Health officials are in the process of establishing a new number for the area. During this time, people in this area who are in need of public health services should contact the Baton Rouge, Lafayette or Alexandria regional public health offices.

Phone numbers for these offices are as follows:

Alexandria:  318-487-5262                                         

Baton Rouge:  800-349-1372                          

Lafayette:  337-262-5311                                                                               

Also, the Office of Mental Health is proceeding with the evacuation of New Orleans Adolescent Hospital and Southeast Louisiana State Hospital. Anticipated time of departure of NOAH patients and staff is 6:00 p.m. today. The anticipated departure time of Southeast patients and staff is 4:00 p.m. today.

Adult psychiatric patients will be transported to East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson, and patients under 18 years of age will be transported to Greenwell Springs Hospital. The patients will be accompanied by administrative, clinical and support staff in order to assure the health and safety of these clients. 

The Department of Health has created a special Web site dedicated to information about Hurricane Ivan. This Web site can be found at www.dhhemergencynews.com. LDH will use this site for public information, news alerts, key contact information, to announce facility closures and reopenings and for any other news related to the emergency conditions caused by Hurricane Ivan.