Newswise — Recent devastation from Hurricane Katrina has taught the renal community important lessons about disaster management and has shed light on the need to create a community-wide disaster relief plan. Panelists will discuss this pivotal issue at a special session during the American Society of Nephrology's 38th Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In the wake of the tragic events resulting from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, the ASN, in cooperation with the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), Renal Physicians Association (RPA), American Society of Pediatric Nephrology (ASPN), and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), will present a session to discuss lessons learned from nephrologists and other care providers' efforts to facilitate the care of dialysis during a crisis. Individuals from the private and public sectors will describe their own experiences, as they attempted to provide dialysis care with minimal disruption.
Moderators of the session include: David G. Warnock, MD, President of the NKF; Robert Provenzano, MD, President of the RPA, and ASN's President, Tomas Berl, MD, FASN. Panelists include: Gina Clemons from CMS; L. Lee Hamm, MD, Chairman of Internal Medicine, Tulane University; Robert Kinney, Director, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Dialysis Unit; Linda Lansing, Vice-President, DaVita; and Patricia Philliber, Project Director of ESRD Network 13, which assists ESRD patients in Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Even more important than answering questions about what caused the system to fail will be a discussion to define the scope of a disaster relief plan and appoint a working group to make recommendations for immediate response. "Crises will arise and we need to be better prepared to handle them in the future," Berl said. "We can no longer ignore the ever-increasing need for the implementation of a disaster relief plan."
The session entitled "Lessons Learned from Katrina" will be presented during a luncheon symposium on Saturday, November 12 from 12:00-1:15 pm in Ballroom B of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The ASN is a not-for-profit organization of 9,000 physicians and scientists dedicated to the study of nephrology and committed to providing a forum for the promulgation of information regarding the latest research and clinical findings on kidney diseases. ASN's Renal Week 2005, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for more than 12,000 nephrologists to discuss the latest findings in renal research and engage in educational sessions relating advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders from November 8-13 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.
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