Contact:  W. Keith Simon, VP, PR, 1.800.259.3333; ksimon@acadian.com , 337.291.1584 office

Pictures taken by Ray Bias before and after the storm can be found on our Web Gallery at acadian.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 5:00 pm , August 30, 2005

Acting under the request of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, Acadian Ambulance will be coordinating all air medical evacuations from the six hospitals in New Orleans. A total of 2000 patients will be evacuated by ground and air over the next several days.

Acadian began its air evacuations today with 10 Air Med helicopters transporting 16 out of 30 infants from Tulane Medical Center. Shumpert Medical Center in Shreveport assisted Acadian with evacuations today. Evacuations will continue until all life-threatening patients are transported.

Acadian made an urgent request to the U.S. Army asking for assistance with Military Assistance of Safety and Traffic (MAST) Medevac helicopters based at Fort Polk, LA. “We have also asked the federal government to seek additional ground and air resources. Those efforts are being coordinated through FEMA,” said Erroll Babineaux, vice president of air services.

As the waters continue to rise at one foot per hour, Acadian Ambulance continues its ground operations of medical evacuations. Over 60 Acadian ambulance units, and 40 units from assisting ambulance agencies were dispatched to evacuate patients from the New Orleans hospitals.

Due to the flood waters, boats are needed to transport the patients from the hospital to the Causeway, which is as far as the units can be safely driven. Acadian will transport the patients from New Orleans Charity Hospital to accepting hospitals in the cities of Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and New Iberia.

Other air ambulances throughout the South have called to offer their assistance and Acadian's communication center is coordinating efforts to land them at the New Orleans Superdome.  Calls have been received from as far away as Shreveport, LA, Beaumont, TX, and Little Rock, AR.

 “We continue to work around the clock with the Office of Emergency Preparedness and local law enforcement agencies,” said CEO and Chairman Richard Zuschlag “We handled 700 evacuations in less than 36 hours before Katrina made landfall, and will continue our efforts with the evacuations as long as we are needed.”

Acadian's "Hurricane Plan" has been in effect since last Saturday when the company met with field operations, communications personnel, fleet maintenance, and medical supply to put into place those directives.

To meet the extensive evacuation needs, 100 medics, staffing 50 ambulances have joined the normal daily contingent of 160 on-duty ambulances in the areas affected by the storm. Acadian's off-duty medics, and contract paramedics who were evacuated from oil rigs due to the storm, are standing by and will be used on an as-needed basis, Zuschlag said.

Those unaffected by the storm can be assured that Acadian's operations for their area will not be diminished.  Due to our regional operations, we have access to additional medics on an as-needed basis without affecting the level of service expected in our service area.

Persons facing life or death situations should dial 911. Acadian Ambulance can be reached for non-emergency medical assistance by calling 511 direct.

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