Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster. What we did to the residents of the Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Katrina was a man-made disaster.

Six local nurses said Monday that mental distress is omnipresent in New Orleans these days as residents feel helpless to secure rebuilding grants, find doctors and schools and otherwise navigate life in a fragile city.

Some 300 nurses in the Washington area have joined a national network of nurses willing to deploy to the sites of natural disasters wherever they occur.

HOUSTON - Nurse Bonnie Castillo remembers hearing from officials that the medical situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck was "fine" - volunteers weren't needed.

Doug Smith, a registered nurse at Swedish Hospital, remembers getting annoyed as he watched the official response to Hurricane Katrina.

Eighteen months after the levee failures and Hurricane Katrina shattered the Lower 9th Ward, residents this week welcomed the opening of a free health clinic on St. Claude Avenue.

The California Nurses Association found a new use last year for its ability to organize nurses quickly. It sent more than 300 nurses to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

After two weeks of treating desperate and scared families who survived thrashing flood waters and vicious winds with only their lives, the emotional connection to work became — and remains — unavoidable.