Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline, the Valentine Medical Center opened in Gretna, La., as the result of rebuilding efforts assisted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Katrina Phoenix project and the Louisiana Health Care Review (LHCR), the Medicare quality improvement organization for Louisiana.

The Valentine Medical Center is a new family healthcare, urgent care and occupational medical clinic.

In action since September 2005, the Katrina Phoenix project of the HIMSS Foundation has organized vendor donations for electronic health record (EHR) software and hardware, as well as services for practices in the region affected by Hurricane Katrina.