Although many have been able to rebuild their practice following Katrina, many others were not able to do so. Dr. Kevin Stephens was the Director of the Health Department in New Orleans prior to Katrina and had a gynecology practice. He gave the following account of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on his private practice: 

"I had four feet of water or five feet of water in my office. It was one story, so I lost all of my records, all my equipment, furniture; you name it – the whole kit and caboodle . . . Had I had electronic medical records, that would have been ideal. Not having that, paper records just – just – it just destroyed everything. And that was really traumatic. . . Wind damage, flooding. The whole kit and caboodle. My windows blew out in my building, and so that just devastated the whole thing. My personnel evacuated. My staff moved. They came back. Not to me, though; they never came back to the city. They’re all gone, out the state, out the city, all over the place."