A group of eight North Dakota health-care providers called upon to provide emergency treatment to hurricane victims arrived in Lake Charles, La., on Monday night.
Two physicians and three nurses from Fargo joined three nurses from Bismarck on the six-day relief mission in Lake Charles, a city of about 71,000 located 30 miles north of the Gulf Coast.
The group, coordinated by the North Dakota Department of Health, includes: Mohamed Rhaman, an internal medicine specialist at Fargo's MeritCare Hospital; Michael Briggs, internal medicine specialist and pulmonary disease specialist at Fargo's Innovis Health; Amy Vogt and Merilee Bainbridge, both nurses at Innovis Health; Jeannie Bjore, a nurse at Prairie St. John's of Fargo; and Mary Scott, Alice Robinson and Sheila Geffre, all nurses at St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck.
Team members left Fargo's Hector International Airport for Houston on Monday morning. They then traveled by van to Lake Charles, about three hours west of Houston.
The group will treat 150 patients per day at Christus St. Patrick's Hospital in Lake Charles, which is scheduled to reopen Friday.
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"On very short notice, this medical team mobilized quickly in response to needs of staff members at Christus St. Patrick's Hospital where operations were disrupted by Hurricane Rita," Gov. John Hoeven said in a news release.
The state Department of Health assembled the group after being contacted by the Department of Emergency Services, which received word Saturday afternoon that a medical team was needed.
The group will relieve another team organized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"North Dakota is continuing to provide response and recovery resources for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," said Susan Reinertson, director of North Dakota's Division of Homeland Security, in a news release. "This deployment of private resources demonstrates we can depend upon our communities to step forward and deliver critical services during times of crisis."
