Below is a news release on an AAP supplement to the May issue of Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

For Release: May 1, 2006, 12:01 am (ET)

CHICAGO - The dramatic life-saving experiences, frustrations, successes and lessons learned from pediatricians and health care professionals who cared for infants and children during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina, are chronicled in a new Pediatrics supplement. (PDF file, 7MB)

“Hurricane Katrina, Children and Pediatric Heroes,” is a series of articles by pediatricians and medical staff who served on the front-line in hospitals, clinics, offices and stadiums, and on medical support teams - often without power, lights, water or adequate supplies - to help children who were either hurt or abandoned during the hurricane, or who were receiving in-hospital care when the hurricane hit and levees breached.

The articles reflect the spectrum of pediatric care, including hospital, private practice, remote care of evacuees, transportation of very low birth weight infants, neonatal care, and even care of children confined to a juvenile correction facility. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activities related to children also are included in the supplement.

The supplement highlights the problems of children in a disaster. In Katrina, many of the children had had little access to health care before the hurricane, making their care and recovery more difficult. Recommendations in the supplement include the need for multi-state regionalization of medical care for children impacted by a disaster, improved coordination between public and private relief organizations, and better access to care for children. To prepare for the upcoming hurricane season and other disasters, pediatricians should work with families to develop disaster plans.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.