O ne of the first calls that New Orleans dermatologist Patricia Farris, M.D., received in the days after Hurricane Katrina pummeled her city was from a pathologist, who had been trying to get through to her to let her know that a patient’s biopsy had come back positive for melanoma. “After the cell phones came back up, that was one of the first calls I got—the pathologist reporting that I had a melanoma diagnosis on a patient who couldn’t be located,” Dr. Farris recalls. “I found her several weeks later, in Florida.” The first written communication private practitioner and Tulane University professor Mary Lupo, M.D., of New Orleans received was from Medicare. “The letter indicated that Medicare was suspending all payments to my ZIP Code,” Dr. Lupo says, still miffed that the callous missive did not bother to address what the government agency might do to help its affected providers and the beneficiaries they care for. That issue was hardly at the top of Dr. Lupo’s list at the time. Her office was inundated by flooding and when she was first reached by Skin & Aging in mid-November, she was snowed in, in Colorado, hours before she was planning to fly back to New Orleans to see dozens of patients in the office of a plastic surgeon who had graciously opened his doors to her. Important Key Concerns For many physicians who were displaced by Katrina or who couldn’t find their patients because the patients had fled, patient safety, urgent treatment issues and the availability of patient records were the key concerns. “Those were my initial concerns — finding biopsy reports and following up with cancer patients,” Dr. Farris says, “and I also had to find my medical staff and nurses — which wasn’t easy when we were scattered among Texas, Florida and Louisiana. Two of my employees lost their homes to flooding.” Even dermatologists who prepared as well as they could for the hurricane’s onslaught have felt overwhelmed by the myriad, ongoing post-disaster issues they have had to manage. Metairie, LA, physician William Coleman III, M.D., a Professor of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery at Tulane University Health Sciences Center and Vice President-Elect of the American Academy of Dermatology, spent the 2 days before Katrina hit securing his equipment and patient records. That paid off when he sustained damage to both his home and his practice, but it didn’t help much when he began reconnecting with his dispersed patients. “That’s been the most difficult thing — dealing with the many tragic stories of my patients. Many lost their homes, their businesses — even their loved ones,” says Dr. Coleman, who is living and working in temporary quarters, and is still uncertain how his future personal and professional life will pan out. “Our whole world down here has completely changed, and many things will simply never be the same again. Perhaps we will come out of this with a new perspective on what is really important in life.” Grappling with Financial Issues Ronald Lubritz, M.D., F.A.C.P., President of the Mississippi Dermatologic Society and one of five dermatologists at the Hattiesburg Clinic, says that even though his city fared better than New Orleans, and his practice sustained only minor damage, the big-picture disruption has been substantial. And people in his state are also reeling from the after effects. “I was in the National Guard after Hurricane Camille came though [in 1969], and that pales by comparison to what has happened in this region because of Katrina,” he says. “What’s becoming clear is that only the people [who lost homes and businesses] who can afford to return and rebuild, will do so. There has been tremendous damage to homes and offices.” Like many physicians who operate solo or small practices have found in the wake of Katrina, Dr. Farris and Dr. Lupo are wrestling with the myriad financial issues that arise — and become almost exponential in short order — after disaster hits. Although Dr. Farris has a decent business-interruption policy that provides decent coverage, she says that the sheer volume of claims has slowed payments. She was still awaiting an initial payment in November. And she was among the lucky ones who, because the storm blew off her roof, didn’t have to fight insurers, unlike some colleagues whose practices were damaged by flooding from underneath. “I guess I’m lucky that the roof blew off. But the rent, the salaries, the health insurance, and the malpractice, legal and accounting fees, are all accruing, in spite of the fact that you have no revenues,” Dr. Farris says. She adds that she is still out-of-pocket for construction costs from her property & casualty policy, and is wrangling with insurers who are balking at the expense and time required to ensure that the repaired structure is mold-free — a requirement because of the potential harm to immunosuppressed patients. “I keep stressing to them that I must have a zero tolerance for mold, since even the common molds can be harmful to patients,” she says. “This has delayed my rebuilding to some extent.” Looking Toward the Future Despite enormous obstacles, financial and personal, Dr. Lupo is trying to remain focused on the future. A longtime New Orleans resident who started her practice from scratch 21 years ago, she is determined to return — and rebuild — if the latter is in the cards. Dr. Lupo continued to pay all of her employees their full wages in the weeks following the disaster, while she was living in Colorado, and has since had to adjust her outflows to deal with the fact that her revenue stream may never return to normal. All staff members are on abbreviated schedules while she commutes between Louisiana and a second home in Colorado, and a cherished staff member recently announced that she won’t return to New Orleans. “A small sector of my patients are there, and they’re calling and waiting for me,” she says, acknowledging that those patients are primarily ones whose economic status will enable them to remain in New Orleans. “We are going to lose a lot of people in the region — doctors and patients — who just cannot hold on and wait for things to improve. The reality is that it will take 5 to 7 years to ‘fix what’s broke,’ and that’s assuming that the federal government offers the economic incentive to rebuild.” The latter, she notes, isn’t a given, as recent news reports have indicated. Her intent, like that of other residents she’s spoken to, is to return this month and to endure “the brunt of another hurricane season and ensure the levee is fully replaced” before making any long-term decisions. “At that point, we’ll know a lot more about what will happen” in the area, Dr. Lupo says, adding that she knows of physicians who have decided, in the interests of their families’ economic well-being, not to stick it out. “I’m prepared, mentally and financially, to have a few bad years — but that’s not the case for everyone.” For his part, Dr. Coleman says that the disaster has taught him two important lessons: not to become too attached to one’s way of life and to value the ability to cope with unwanted, unexpected major change, in a very short period. His advice to others who are watching their colleagues deal with the aftermath of Katrina and wondering how they might react if they faced a similar situation, is this: “You must learn to be flexible, and you must be willing to make enormous decisions several times a day.” Fortunately for all physicians affected by the disaster, colleagues — in their field or others — have reached out to offer help where and how they can. Many doctors have opened their offices on a temporary or intermediate-term basis to dermatologists who now have no place to practice. “That’s what I see — doctors who didn’t lose their offices offering their space to those who did,” Dr. Lupo says. “People are simply trying to help each other here because they’re not getting much help from the government or anyone else.” That’s the same view expressed by Peter Simoneaux, M.D., a Mohs surgeon and general dermatologist from Covington, LA, who is the Immediate Past President of the Louisiana Dermatologic Society. “A lot of people feel that we’ve more or less been forgotten by the rest of the country. The people who were in university practices at Tulane and LSU (Louisiana State University) don’t have offices to work out of anymore — and who knows when the schools will reopen,” he says, adding that such longer-term issues “don’t seem to concern a lot of people outside the region.” Future uncertain for Dermatologists and Their Patients Although many physicians are still actively dealing with the immediate after effects of hurricane Katrina and Rita — a University of North Carolina study published in October estimated that 6,000 U.S. physicians, half of them specialists, have been displaced by the disasters — larger issues are emerging. Even if practices can be rebuilt and hospitals reopened and university training programs restarted, what is the future for dermatologists (and other physicians) down the road? “The entire medical marketplace has been — is being — reshaped by what has happened down here, because of the sheer loss of numbers of patients,” Dr. Lubritz says, citing the recent estimates that the region will lose more than one-third of its residents. Even though he personally has received “far fewer calls than expected” from affected members, he knows, anecdotally, that the dermatology community as a whole is concerned about how — or whether — to try to return to anything resembling the former status quo. “That’s really the big long-term issue here,” he says. Dr. Simoneaux, whose own family is living outside the state because his son’s high school isn’t in operation, thinks that a lot of physicians are on the fence about future plans for precisely the reasons that Dr. Lubritz cites. “The question is not only how many dermatologists will be needed after this demographic shift [settles], but how many of the displaced dermatologists will be willing to come back? What’s the point in coming back if there won’t be any patients to see,” Dr. Simoneaux says. “Those who are close to retirement just aren’t going to start up their practices again — it will be too costly.” Dr. Farris concurs with that view. “I have spoken to other derms in the area, and most of us are in the same boats — a few are practicing and some lost homes and offices and aren’t coming back,” she says. “I suspect that in the end there will be fewer patients and fewer dermatologists.” The entire mood in the dermatology community, Dr. Simoneaux adds, is one of sadness, as many practicing in the region, like himself, also trained there — and are concerned about the future of those programs. “It’s a very tight-knit community because most of the people down here trained here and they know each other well. It’s a community that’s always been remarkable in its camaraderie and collegiality,” he says. “And we’ve all been affected in one similar way — the impact of the storm on our fellow dermatologists and our training programs, to which we all have allegiance.”
LIFE AFTER KATRINA
O ne of the first calls that New Orleans dermatologist Patricia Farris, M.D., received in the days after Hurricane Katrina pummeled her city was from a pathologist, who had been trying to get through to her to let her know that a patient’s biopsy had come back positive for melanoma. “After the cell phones came back up, that was one of the first calls I got—the pathologist reporting that I had a melanoma diagnosis on a patient who couldn’t be located,” Dr. Farris recalls. “I found her several weeks later, in Florida.” The first written communication private practitioner and Tulane University professor Mary Lupo, M.D., of New Orleans received was from Medicare. “The letter indicated that Medicare was suspending all payments to my ZIP Code,” Dr. Lupo says, still miffed that the callous missive did not bother to address what the government agency might do to help its affected providers and the beneficiaries they care for. That issue was hardly at the top of Dr. Lupo’s list at the time. Her office was inundated by flooding and when she was first reached by Skin & Aging in mid-November, she was snowed in, in Colorado, hours before she was planning to fly back to New Orleans to see dozens of patients in the office of a plastic surgeon who had graciously opened his doors to her. Important Key Concerns For many physicians who were displaced by Katrina or who couldn’t find their patients because the patients had fled, patient safety, urgent treatment issues and the availability of patient records were the key concerns. “Those were my initial concerns — finding biopsy reports and following up with cancer patients,” Dr. Farris says, “and I also had to find my medical staff and nurses — which wasn’t easy when we were scattered among Texas, Florida and Louisiana. Two of my employees lost their homes to flooding.” Even dermatologists who prepared as well as they could for the hurricane’s onslaught have felt overwhelmed by the myriad, ongoing post-disaster issues they have had to manage. Metairie, LA, physician William Coleman III, M.D., a Professor of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery at Tulane University Health Sciences Center and Vice President-Elect of the American Academy of Dermatology, spent the 2 days before Katrina hit securing his equipment and patient records. That paid off when he sustained damage to both his home and his practice, but it didn’t help much when he began reconnecting with his dispersed patients. “That’s been the most difficult thing — dealing with the many tragic stories of my patients. Many lost their homes, their businesses — even their loved ones,” says Dr. Coleman, who is living and working in temporary quarters, and is still uncertain how his future personal and professional life will pan out. “Our whole world down here has completely changed, and many things will simply never be the same again. Perhaps we will come out of this with a new perspective on what is really important in life.” Grappling with Financial Issues Ronald Lubritz, M.D., F.A.C.P., President of the Mississippi Dermatologic Society and one of five dermatologists at the Hattiesburg Clinic, says that even though his city fared better than New Orleans, and his practice sustained only minor damage, the big-picture disruption has been substantial. And people in his state are also reeling from the after effects. “I was in the National Guard after Hurricane Camille came though [in 1969], and that pales by comparison to what has happened in this region because of Katrina,” he says. “What’s becoming clear is that only the people [who lost homes and businesses] who can afford to return and rebuild, will do so. There has been tremendous damage to homes and offices.” Like many physicians who operate solo or small practices have found in the wake of Katrina, Dr. Farris and Dr. Lupo are wrestling with the myriad financial issues that arise — and become almost exponential in short order — after disaster hits. Although Dr. Farris has a decent business-interruption policy that provides decent coverage, she says that the sheer volume of claims has slowed payments. She was still awaiting an initial payment in November. And she was among the lucky ones who, because the storm blew off her roof, didn’t have to fight insurers, unlike some colleagues whose practices were damaged by flooding from underneath. “I guess I’m lucky that the roof blew off. But the rent, the salaries, the health insurance, and the malpractice, legal and accounting fees, are all accruing, in spite of the fact that you have no revenues,” Dr. Farris says. She adds that she is still out-of-pocket for construction costs from her property & casualty policy, and is wrangling with insurers who are balking at the expense and time required to ensure that the repaired structure is mold-free — a requirement because of the potential harm to immunosuppressed patients. “I keep stressing to them that I must have a zero tolerance for mold, since even the common molds can be harmful to patients,” she says. “This has delayed my rebuilding to some extent.” Looking Toward the Future Despite enormous obstacles, financial and personal, Dr. Lupo is trying to remain focused on the future. A longtime New Orleans resident who started her practice from scratch 21 years ago, she is determined to return — and rebuild — if the latter is in the cards. Dr. Lupo continued to pay all of her employees their full wages in the weeks following the disaster, while she was living in Colorado, and has since had to adjust her outflows to deal with the fact that her revenue stream may never return to normal. All staff members are on abbreviated schedules while she commutes between Louisiana and a second home in Colorado, and a cherished staff member recently announced that she won’t return to New Orleans. “A small sector of my patients are there, and they’re calling and waiting for me,” she says, acknowledging that those patients are primarily ones whose economic status will enable them to remain in New Orleans. “We are going to lose a lot of people in the region — doctors and patients — who just cannot hold on and wait for things to improve. The reality is that it will take 5 to 7 years to ‘fix what’s broke,’ and that’s assuming that the federal government offers the economic incentive to rebuild.” The latter, she notes, isn’t a given, as recent news reports have indicated. Her intent, like that of other residents she’s spoken to, is to return this month and to endure “the brunt of another hurricane season and ensure the levee is fully replaced” before making any long-term decisions. “At that point, we’ll know a lot more about what will happen” in the area, Dr. Lupo says, adding that she knows of physicians who have decided, in the interests of their families’ economic well-being, not to stick it out. “I’m prepared, mentally and financially, to have a few bad years — but that’s not the case for everyone.” For his part, Dr. Coleman says that the disaster has taught him two important lessons: not to become too attached to one’s way of life and to value the ability to cope with unwanted, unexpected major change, in a very short period. His advice to others who are watching their colleagues deal with the aftermath of Katrina and wondering how they might react if they faced a similar situation, is this: “You must learn to be flexible, and you must be willing to make enormous decisions several times a day.” Fortunately for all physicians affected by the disaster, colleagues — in their field or others — have reached out to offer help where and how they can. Many doctors have opened their offices on a temporary or intermediate-term basis to dermatologists who now have no place to practice. “That’s what I see — doctors who didn’t lose their offices offering their space to those who did,” Dr. Lupo says. “People are simply trying to help each other here because they’re not getting much help from the government or anyone else.” That’s the same view expressed by Peter Simoneaux, M.D., a Mohs surgeon and general dermatologist from Covington, LA, who is the Immediate Past President of the Louisiana Dermatologic Society. “A lot of people feel that we’ve more or less been forgotten by the rest of the country. The people who were in university practices at Tulane and LSU (Louisiana State University) don’t have offices to work out of anymore — and who knows when the schools will reopen,” he says, adding that such longer-term issues “don’t seem to concern a lot of people outside the region.” Future uncertain for Dermatologists and Their Patients Although many physicians are still actively dealing with the immediate after effects of hurricane Katrina and Rita — a University of North Carolina study published in October estimated that 6,000 U.S. physicians, half of them specialists, have been displaced by the disasters — larger issues are emerging. Even if practices can be rebuilt and hospitals reopened and university training programs restarted, what is the future for dermatologists (and other physicians) down the road? “The entire medical marketplace has been — is being — reshaped by what has happened down here, because of the sheer loss of numbers of patients,” Dr. Lubritz says, citing the recent estimates that the region will lose more than one-third of its residents. Even though he personally has received “far fewer calls than expected” from affected members, he knows, anecdotally, that the dermatology community as a whole is concerned about how — or whether — to try to return to anything resembling the former status quo. “That’s really the big long-term issue here,” he says. Dr. Simoneaux, whose own family is living outside the state because his son’s high school isn’t in operation, thinks that a lot of physicians are on the fence about future plans for precisely the reasons that Dr. Lubritz cites. “The question is not only how many dermatologists will be needed after this demographic shift [settles], but how many of the displaced dermatologists will be willing to come back? What’s the point in coming back if there won’t be any patients to see,” Dr. Simoneaux says. “Those who are close to retirement just aren’t going to start up their practices again — it will be too costly.” Dr. Farris concurs with that view. “I have spoken to other derms in the area, and most of us are in the same boats — a few are practicing and some lost homes and offices and aren’t coming back,” she says. “I suspect that in the end there will be fewer patients and fewer dermatologists.” The entire mood in the dermatology community, Dr. Simoneaux adds, is one of sadness, as many practicing in the region, like himself, also trained there — and are concerned about the future of those programs. “It’s a very tight-knit community because most of the people down here trained here and they know each other well. It’s a community that’s always been remarkable in its camaraderie and collegiality,” he says. “And we’ve all been affected in one similar way — the impact of the storm on our fellow dermatologists and our training programs, to which we all have allegiance.”
O ne of the first calls that New Orleans dermatologist Patricia Farris, M.D., received in the days after Hurricane Katrina pummeled her city was from a pathologist, who had been trying to get through to her to let her know that a patient’s biopsy had come back positive for melanoma. “After the cell phones came back up, that was one of the first calls I got—the pathologist reporting that I had a melanoma diagnosis on a patient who couldn’t be located,” Dr. Farris recalls. “I found her several weeks later, in Florida.” The first written communication private practitioner and Tulane University professor Mary Lupo, M.D., of New Orleans received was from Medicare. “The letter indicated that Medicare was suspending all payments to my ZIP Code,” Dr. Lupo says, still miffed that the callous missive did not bother to address what the government agency might do to help its affected providers and the beneficiaries they care for. That issue was hardly at the top of Dr. Lupo’s list at the time. Her office was inundated by flooding and when she was first reached by Skin & Aging in mid-November, she was snowed in, in Colorado, hours before she was planning to fly back to New Orleans to see dozens of patients in the office of a plastic surgeon who had graciously opened his doors to her. Important Key Concerns For many physicians who were displaced by Katrina or who couldn’t find their patients because the patients had fled, patient safety, urgent treatment issues and the availability of patient records were the key concerns. “Those were my initial concerns — finding biopsy reports and following up with cancer patients,” Dr. Farris says, “and I also had to find my medical staff and nurses — which wasn’t easy when we were scattered among Texas, Florida and Louisiana. Two of my employees lost their homes to flooding.” Even dermatologists who prepared as well as they could for the hurricane’s onslaught have felt overwhelmed by the myriad, ongoing post-disaster issues they have had to manage. Metairie, LA, physician William Coleman III, M.D., a Professor of Dermatology and Plastic Surgery at Tulane University Health Sciences Center and Vice President-Elect of the American Academy of Dermatology, spent the 2 days before Katrina hit securing his equipment and patient records. That paid off when he sustained damage to both his home and his practice, but it didn’t help much when he began reconnecting with his dispersed patients. “That’s been the most difficult thing — dealing with the many tragic stories of my patients. Many lost their homes, their businesses — even their loved ones,” says Dr. Coleman, who is living and working in temporary quarters, and is still uncertain how his future personal and professional life will pan out. “Our whole world down here has completely changed, and many things will simply never be the same again. Perhaps we will come out of this with a new perspective on what is really important in life.” Grappling with Financial Issues Ronald Lubritz, M.D., F.A.C.P., President of the Mississippi Dermatologic Society and one of five dermatologists at the Hattiesburg Clinic, says that even though his city fared better than New Orleans, and his practice sustained only minor damage, the big-picture disruption has been substantial. And people in his state are also reeling from the after effects. “I was in the National Guard after Hurricane Camille came though [in 1969], and that pales by comparison to what has happened in this region because of Katrina,” he says. “What’s becoming clear is that only the people [who lost homes and businesses] who can afford to return and rebuild, will do so. There has been tremendous damage to homes and offices.” Like many physicians who operate solo or small practices have found in the wake of Katrina, Dr. Farris and Dr. Lupo are wrestling with the myriad financial issues that arise — and become almost exponential in short order — after disaster hits. Although Dr. Farris has a decent business-interruption policy that provides decent coverage, she says that the sheer volume of claims has slowed payments. She was still awaiting an initial payment in November. And she was among the lucky ones who, because the storm blew off her roof, didn’t have to fight insurers, unlike some colleagues whose practices were damaged by flooding from underneath. “I guess I’m lucky that the roof blew off. But the rent, the salaries, the health insurance, and the malpractice, legal and accounting fees, are all accruing, in spite of the fact that you have no revenues,” Dr. Farris says. She adds that she is still out-of-pocket for construction costs from her property & casualty policy, and is wrangling with insurers who are balking at the expense and time required to ensure that the repaired structure is mold-free — a requirement because of the potential harm to immunosuppressed patients. “I keep stressing to them that I must have a zero tolerance for mold, since even the common molds can be harmful to patients,” she says. “This has delayed my rebuilding to some extent.” Looking Toward the Future Despite enormous obstacles, financial and personal, Dr. Lupo is trying to remain focused on the future. A longtime New Orleans resident who started her practice from scratch 21 years ago, she is determined to return — and rebuild — if the latter is in the cards. Dr. Lupo continued to pay all of her employees their full wages in the weeks following the disaster, while she was living in Colorado, and has since had to adjust her outflows to deal with the fact that her revenue stream may never return to normal. All staff members are on abbreviated schedules while she commutes between Louisiana and a second home in Colorado, and a cherished staff member recently announced that she won’t return to New Orleans. “A small sector of my patients are there, and they’re calling and waiting for me,” she says, acknowledging that those patients are primarily ones whose economic status will enable them to remain in New Orleans. “We are going to lose a lot of people in the region — doctors and patients — who just cannot hold on and wait for things to improve. The reality is that it will take 5 to 7 years to ‘fix what’s broke,’ and that’s assuming that the federal government offers the economic incentive to rebuild.” The latter, she notes, isn’t a given, as recent news reports have indicated. Her intent, like that of other residents she’s spoken to, is to return this month and to endure “the brunt of another hurricane season and ensure the levee is fully replaced” before making any long-term decisions. “At that point, we’ll know a lot more about what will happen” in the area, Dr. Lupo says, adding that she knows of physicians who have decided, in the interests of their families’ economic well-being, not to stick it out. “I’m prepared, mentally and financially, to have a few bad years — but that’s not the case for everyone.” For his part, Dr. Coleman says that the disaster has taught him two important lessons: not to become too attached to one’s way of life and to value the ability to cope with unwanted, unexpected major change, in a very short period. His advice to others who are watching their colleagues deal with the aftermath of Katrina and wondering how they might react if they faced a similar situation, is this: “You must learn to be flexible, and you must be willing to make enormous decisions several times a day.” Fortunately for all physicians affected by the disaster, colleagues — in their field or others — have reached out to offer help where and how they can. Many doctors have opened their offices on a temporary or intermediate-term basis to dermatologists who now have no place to practice. “That’s what I see — doctors who didn’t lose their offices offering their space to those who did,” Dr. Lupo says. “People are simply trying to help each other here because they’re not getting much help from the government or anyone else.” That’s the same view expressed by Peter Simoneaux, M.D., a Mohs surgeon and general dermatologist from Covington, LA, who is the Immediate Past President of the Louisiana Dermatologic Society. “A lot of people feel that we’ve more or less been forgotten by the rest of the country. The people who were in university practices at Tulane and LSU (Louisiana State University) don’t have offices to work out of anymore — and who knows when the schools will reopen,” he says, adding that such longer-term issues “don’t seem to concern a lot of people outside the region.” Future uncertain for Dermatologists and Their Patients Although many physicians are still actively dealing with the immediate after effects of hurricane Katrina and Rita — a University of North Carolina study published in October estimated that 6,000 U.S. physicians, half of them specialists, have been displaced by the disasters — larger issues are emerging. Even if practices can be rebuilt and hospitals reopened and university training programs restarted, what is the future for dermatologists (and other physicians) down the road? “The entire medical marketplace has been — is being — reshaped by what has happened down here, because of the sheer loss of numbers of patients,” Dr. Lubritz says, citing the recent estimates that the region will lose more than one-third of its residents. Even though he personally has received “far fewer calls than expected” from affected members, he knows, anecdotally, that the dermatology community as a whole is concerned about how — or whether — to try to return to anything resembling the former status quo. “That’s really the big long-term issue here,” he says. Dr. Simoneaux, whose own family is living outside the state because his son’s high school isn’t in operation, thinks that a lot of physicians are on the fence about future plans for precisely the reasons that Dr. Lubritz cites. “The question is not only how many dermatologists will be needed after this demographic shift [settles], but how many of the displaced dermatologists will be willing to come back? What’s the point in coming back if there won’t be any patients to see,” Dr. Simoneaux says. “Those who are close to retirement just aren’t going to start up their practices again — it will be too costly.” Dr. Farris concurs with that view. “I have spoken to other derms in the area, and most of us are in the same boats — a few are practicing and some lost homes and offices and aren’t coming back,” she says. “I suspect that in the end there will be fewer patients and fewer dermatologists.” The entire mood in the dermatology community, Dr. Simoneaux adds, is one of sadness, as many practicing in the region, like himself, also trained there — and are concerned about the future of those programs. “It’s a very tight-knit community because most of the people down here trained here and they know each other well. It’s a community that’s always been remarkable in its camaraderie and collegiality,” he says. “And we’ve all been affected in one similar way — the impact of the storm on our fellow dermatologists and our training programs, to which we all have allegiance.”
