One year after the winds of Hurricane Katrina subsided, the lessons learned by Louisiana nursing homes are important for all companies in the long-term care industry. This is the second installment of an interview with Joseph Donchess, executive director of the Nursing Home Association of Louisiana (www.lnha.org) on what has happened to the senior living industry in New Orleans and what the industry now knows on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

If you’ve never gone through a hurricane or other major natural disaster, it might be hard to understand how fragile our communications systems are and how isolated we become without them. Even driving across town to deliver a message — something that may seem like the obvious step when phones and power are out — is a challenge; roads are often blocked by water, downed power lines, trees, and debris. As a result, almost all forms of communications can be down for days, or even weeks.

So it’s not a surprise that at the top of Mr. Donchess’ list of lessons learned is the need for some type of communications equipment that works when common forms do not.