Companies boost morale post-Katrina - New Orleans City Business

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The Kenner Regional Medical Center operating room staff steps away from the surgical table.
By Tommy Santora, Associate Editor
Kenner Regional
Medical Center
With no running water, air conditioning or
electricity and room temperatures topping
110 degrees in extreme cases, Kenner
Regional Medical Center temporarily
closed and evacuated approximately 1,000
employees, family members, patients and
even pets three days following Hurricane
Katrina. Patients were airlifted out of the
hospital or transported by pickup trucks,
SUVs and military vehicles to Tenet
Healthcare hospitals along the Gulf Coast.
The corporation also stepped up behind
the scenes, catering to more than 500 Kenner
employees who were leaving the hospital
after working during the peak of the storm or
were displaced nationwide.
Tenet, which owns and operates 73 acute
care hospitals in 13 states, paid all employees
10 weeks of disaster relief pay, with the first
two checks equaling full salary and the last
three totaling 50 percent of regular pay.
Tenet also established a disaster relief
fund, asking for donations and pledges to
Kenner employees. It raised $1 million. Tenet
matched $2 for every $1,raising the total relief
funds to $3 million. Employees applied for
grants from that fund, ranging from $500 to
See KENNER REGIONAL continued on page 12
December 19, 2005 11
Kenner Regional Medical Center admit representative Kristy Moore, right, assists Becky Richards in the outpatient
diagnostic center.