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, 7:00 p, August 31, 2005

Acadian is now manning the Aid Station at the Superdome with a medical staff of 10 paramedics and four physicians, one of whom is Acadian's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ross Judice. The Aid Station is the first line of medical care of the 25,000 people in the Superdome. The situations range from babies needing diapers to patients who are now near their dialysis cycle, from diabetics and high blood pressure patients running out of medication to dehydration.

Ray Bias, governmental relations manager of New Orleans, one of the original three people who manned the Aid Station is now back in Lafayette due to rest mandated by Acadian officials. Bias had been in the Dome since Sunday morning at 7am. “Those in the Dome have shelter, but the conditions are below minimal at best. The waste in the Dome is overwhelming, tempers are flaring, patience is thin and attitudes are at their lowest. It was necessary for armed guards to keep the peace inside.”

Bias, a paramedic, registered nurse and captain in the Naval Reserve who has served in Vietnam and Desert Storm, likened the conditions in the Dome to a third-world country.

Bill Brown, executive director of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, was attending the EMS Expo in New Orleans this past weekend when it became known that New Orleans was a target for Hurricane Katrina. “As a volunteer who appreciated all of the courageous work done by Acadian during Hurricane Katrina,” Brown said, “and for their efforts provided to the sick and injured in the Superdome, the ambulance service should take great pride in their contributions. From my observation, during the critical moments, Acadian was at the center of the resolution of the horrible events.”

Brown volunteered his medical assistance with Bias. He too was relieved after being in the Dome for 4 days. They both plan to go back to the Dome after they take a much needed shower, shave, and rest for at least 24 hours.

Acadian continues the coordination of the air medical evacuations from now seven hospitals in New Orleans. Acadian has been asked to evacuate patients from Touro Infirmary, Veterans Hospital, Children's Hospital, Medical Center Louisiana (Charity), Tulane Medical Center, Memorial Medical (Baptist), and University Hospital.

Acadian estimates that it will coordinate the evacuation of 5000 patients over the next several days by ground and air. At the end of the day yesterday, 350 patients had been transported.

To meet the extensive staffing of evacuation needs, Acadian is rotating their medics on 24-hour shifts. A bus of 60 medics left this morning from Lafayette to relieve the medics who have been in New Orleans transporting patients for the past 24 hours. The medics who are relieved will be bused to Baton Rouge where they will receive much needed rest to take on their next 24-hour shift.

“The conditions are grueling, gruesome and heartbreaking,” said Flight Paramedic Tony Cramer. “At one hospital, we were unable to land because we saw people on the roof with guns. At another, we landed for a medical evacuation and were met with a mob of people rushing the helicopter begging for us to evacuate them.”

Congressman Charles Boustany was at the Acadian Ambulance communication center today helping to coordinate federal assistance. Boustany was able to describe the critical situation to the White House in his request for additional ground and air resources. Boustany also urged the White House for assistance with security for the medical teams' protection.

Today, 100 infants out of 175 patients are being transported from Touro Hospital and 25 infant critical care unit patients are being transported from Children's. Evacuations will continue until all life-threatening patients are transported.

Acadian began its air evacuations today with an increase of aircraft from 10 to 17 helicopters. Agencies assisting with air medical evacuations are Southeast Texas & Air Ambulance, StatCare Air Ambulance, AirEvac (Missouri), Air Logistics, American Eurocopter, Bell Helicopter and Petroleum Helicopters Inc. Additional aircraft is inbound from the across the United States offering more assistance.

Metro Aviation has staffed extra mechanics and pilots to help Acadian with the evacuations. Agencies are in this for the long run as evacuations could continue for the next 4-5 days.

At 6am this morning, Acadian gained the assistance of the M.A.S.T. Medevac helicopter based at Fort Polk, LA. It is on the scene now in New Orleans evacuating patients.

The military also provided the C-130 transport aircraft. The C-130 can easily transport 60-80 patients and is being used on scene where Acadian is triaging patients form the downtown area in New Orleans to the Louis Armstrong International Airport.

Lafayette City Parish President Joey Durel was also on hand to help coordinate buses that would transport patients from Thibodaux to accepting hospitals in Louisiana. The patients were transported from hospitals in New Orleans to Thibodaux where they were triaged and assessed.

As the waters continue to rise at one foot per hour, Acadian Ambulance continues its ground operations of medical evacuations. Over 100 ambulances from Acadian and assisting ambulance agencies were dispatched to evacuate patients from the New Orleans hospitals.

Due to the flood waters, boats are still being used to transport the patients from the hospital to the Causeway exit, which is as far as the units can be safely driven. Acadian continues to transport the patients accepting hospitals in the cities of Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Alexandria and New Iberia.

 “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.

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.