Giant sucking sound

From USA Today:

Displaced health care workers from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are being lured with signing bonuses, relocation assistance and other perks by hospitals, doctor offices and clinics nationwide.

As the affected areas are rebuilt they are going to have a hard time attracting needed staff. It's sad for New Orleans but really no different from what goes on in the global health care labor market, especially for nurses. The US doesn't train enough nurses, and imports them from the Philippines, Ireland and elsewhere. Those countries either live with their own shortages or import even cheaper resources from places like Africa. The richer African countries such as South Africa import nurses from the poorer African countries. The poorest African countries --which are also the ones with the highest HIV rates-- then lack the nurses to care for their own patients.