Prof. Lisa Ulmer, MSW, ScD, Chair of the Department of Community Health and Prevention, returned to the Drexel School of Public Health on September 8, after several days at the "largest acute-care field hospital in US history" on the grounds of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Prof. Ulmer departed for Baton Rouge on September 4, after coordinating with a number of her colleagues in the state, including Cheryl Taylor, PhD, MN, of SUBR (Southern University and A & M College Baton Rouge), Principal Investigator of http://www.cdc.gov/reach2010/examples_2005/black_womens_health_imperative.htm.
Prof. Ulmer joined thousands of other volunteer medical personnel working around the clock at the field hospital, located in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (PMAC) on the LSU campus. Much of the work involved distinguishing patients needing acute cure for storm/evacuation-related injuries, from those suffering chronic illnesses worsened by lack of treatment/medication as a result of the evacuation from New Orleans and surrounding areas. Prof. Ulmer debriefed a number of "first responders" who had been in New Orleans from the time Hurricane Katrina struck, treating them, as well as other evacuees, for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. By September 6, LSU reports, at least 6000 evacuees had been treated at PMAC.
Prof. Ulmer is also Interim Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Director of the DrPH Program in Community Health and Prevention at the School of Public Health. She was interviewed about her work in Baton Rouge by Medical Reporter Cherie Bank on NBC-10, Friday, September 9.