VA workers to staff New Orleans-area hospitals

Nearly 150 Veterans Affairs Department nurses, radiology technicians and other healthcare workers displaced by Hurricane Katrina will return to the New Orleans area to work in four private hospitals through September at the VA's expense. Bringing workers back to the city will help alleviate staffing shortages at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, New Orleans; East Jefferson General Hospital, Metairie; West Jefferson General Hospital, Marrero; and Meadowcrest Hospital, Gretna. "There is not any single job in the healthcare sector for which we have adequate number of personnel," said Jack Finn, president of the Metropolitan Hospital Council of New Orleans. Hospitals are "very, very, very grateful" for the returning VA workforce, Finn said. The move will let the returning workers rebuild or repair homes while the VA gradually reopens its inpatient services throughout the fall, a VA spokesman said. -- by Melanie Evans