East Texas faces shortages of doctors, nurses

AUSTIN, Texas — As power outages and clean water shortages force shelters in East Texas to close and nurses there grow fatigued, the state is facing a shortage of health care professionals to care for Hurricane Rita evacuees, officials said Tuesday.

First Lady Anita Perry urged Texas doctors and nurses to volunteer and asked health care providers to give their employees paid leave so they can help.

The pleas came as President Bush flew to his home state Tuesday to get a firsthand look at Hurricane Rita's damage to oil refineries. He also took an hourlong helicopter ride over the debris-strewn communities along the Texas-Louisiana border where some officials say they have been forgotten.

"This area's hurting," Bush said.

About 1,600 medical patients at shelters in East Texas are being moved to facilities in Central Texas, beginning today. Perry said 108 registered nurses, 14 doctors and 58 medical assistants or licensed vocational nurses are needed just at the the Veterans Administration hospitals in Waco and Marlin .

"Especially in East Texas, Rita was a true catastrophe and they need all the help we can give them," said Perry, a former nurse who said she'd volunteer if her license wasn't expired.

More than 400 nurses have volunteered, but more are needed, officials said. "We already have a shortage of nurses in the state, so it's very difficult," said Kathy Thomas, executive director of the Board of Nurse Examiners, which licenses nurses.

The Texas Nurses Association on Tuesday afternoon began accepting out-of-state volunteers on a limited basis, said Clair Jordan, the association's executive director. About 200 out-of-state nurses had volunteered, but only about 10 to 15 would be initially deployed, Jordan said. That's because accepting out-of-state volunteers can be complicated: the group must verify their licenses, check their background, determine who would pay for their airfare and find a place for them to stay.

"We don't want them to become a burden," Jordan said. "What very often has happened in past times is that you have too many volunteers and you find yourself having to take care of them."

The state's hurricane recovery efforts on Tuesday focused largely on restoring power to parts of Southeast Texas and distributing food, water and ice to residents and first responders.

The Governor's Division of Emergency Management sent 120 trucks with commodities to affected areas. The trucks were escorted by state troopers and tracked with GPS devices to ensure arrival, said spokeswoman Mary Lenz.

The state plans to restore power to critical facilities such as hospitals within a week, and then begin long-term work on homes and businesses. About 15,000 out-of-state energy workers began arriving in Texas Tuesday, and will operate out of nine bases around the impacted areas.

Traffic flowed smoothly Tuesday, the final day of the state's three-day staggered schedule for residents to return to areas impacted by the hurricane. The Texas Department of Transportation is still discouraging travel in Jefferson and Hardin counties.

Many schools in Houston, Huntsville, Lufkin and Victoria — and all in the Beaumont area — remained closed Tuesday.

Some districts were planning to open Wednesday, but it was unclear when many districts in the Beaumont area would reopen.

"Some districts had the windows blown out of the schools, but the structures are sound," said DeEtta Culbertson, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency. "In some districts, all the homes in the town were gone but the schools are fine."

During his helicopter tour, Bush flew over flattened and flooded homes, hundreds of downed trees and dozens of wandering, stranded cows. He said the military and government leaders he met with are trying to help people get their lives back together. He urged evacuated residents not to return home until local authorities say it's time.

Bush said his priorities were to assist people with food and water, restore power and provide fuel.

'We fully understand that it's hard to maintain order if you don't have fuel for your cars and first responders," the president said, standing alongside Gov. Rick Perry in Beaumont.

The area that Bush toured is home to several oil refineries, many of which were knocked out of power by the storm.

Bush said the government stands ready to release fuel from its emergency oil stockpile to alleviate high prices. And he suggested he would name a federal official to oversee the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — after local officials first produce a vision for their rebuilt communities.

He also asked Americans and federal workers to cut back on unnecessary travel to make up for fuel shortages caused by Hurricane Rita.

Some residents of the region, though, are growing frustrated with what they say has been a slow response from government.

Request for paperwork greet pleas for state and federal relief, said John Owens, emergency management coordinator and deputy police chief for Port Arthur. "How the hell can we get paperwork to you when we don't have electricity?" he asked Tuesday.

Mayor Oscar Ortiz, his home destroyed by fire after the hurricane, said "we've had 101 promises" for aid, "but it's all bureaucracy."

Ortiz later said he was more hopeful about aid after spending about 30 minutes with the governor.

Corrie MacLaggan writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: cmaclaggan@statesman.com. Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.