FROM: John Steele
TO:
Employees Affected by Hurricane Katrina
DATE:
September 2, 2005
RE:
Hurricane Relief efforts
For all employees in Louisiana and Mississippi, a 24/7 call center has been established
to track patients, employees, physicians and their families. Individuals can call The
HCA Employee Disaster Help Line at 1-800-345-1732 to register or to inquire about a
missing family member.

Patient ‘inventory’. Patients have been evacuated from New Orleans to various
locations throughout Louisiana, including Alexandria, Lafayette and surrounding areas.
As HCA patients arrived from New Orleans, their names were entered into an electronic
inventory system. The HCA Employee Disaster Help Line, each HCA Louisiana hospital
and American Red Cross has this information.

Employee & Physician ‘inventory’. Employees have been evacuated and transferred
to Lafayette, Louisiana by bus. Individuals were entered into the electronic inventory
system upon arrival in Lafayette. Routine transportation runs will be provided between
Lafayette and Alexandria. This effort includes employees, physicians and families that
were evacuated.

Employees, patients or physicians who have moved to other locations may
register their information into the electronic inventory by contacting The HCA
Employee Disaster Help Line at 1-800-345-1732.
Our second priority is to implement plans to support our employees and their families.
We will post updates on Delta Division facility websites, Atlas and HCAOnsite.com.
You should enter the Username: disaster and Password: update
Following is a summary of additional efforts currently underway:
Salary Continuation for affected employees. Workers at affected hospitals will remain on
payroll, including current benefits coverages, until further notice. This practice will be reviewed
periodically.
 Affected employees do not have to use PTO or EIB.
 Questions on paychecks may be directed to 1-800-265-8422.
 Employees of Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, including DePaul Behavioral Health,
Tulane-Lakeside Hospital, or Lakeview Regional Medical Center and associated facilities
who normally receive their pay via direct deposit can call the toll-free number above to
verify funds have been deposited.
 Employees who normally receive hard-copy paychecks can call the toll free number to
arrange to have their checks overnighted to them via UPS. NOTE: There is no mail
service to New Orleans. Employees will have to provide a non New Orleans street
address to accommodate check delivery.
 For employees of Garden Park Medical Center, checks will be available at the facility.
Employees can call the facility at (228)-575-7005 to arrange for overnight delivery or to
update an address.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Counselors on-site in Louisiana. Magellan EAP is
available to take calls from employees from all Louisiana and Mississippi hospitals regardless
of participation in the program prior to the hurricane. Employees can call 1-800-424-1849.
Magellan is our national provider with which we have arranged 24/7 EAP services for the
remainder of 2005. Employees may also access www.magellanhealth.com for additional
information.
Temporary work assignments for employees with clinical skills are needed in Louisiana
and Mississippi (this section applies generally to employees coming from outside the gulf
coast region and want to help for a temporary period of time). Individuals with clinical skills
who would like to work in Louisiana and/or Mississippi temporarily should contact their own
facility’s Human Resources office. Each hospital HR director is being asked to refer staff to the
regional All About Staffing office. Temporary work assignments are being coordinated through
the local All About Staffing offices. All About Staffing will coordinate work assignments and verify
employee availability through hospital staffing offices and the Human Resources department.
Displaced clinical and support workers who wish to remain in Louisiana. Individuals who
wish to stay in Louisiana may apply to a new facility and, if hired, will be transferred via payroll.
At this time, you will become an employee of the new facility. Throughout the salary continuation
period, employees will receive a salary rate equal the greater of the new facility salary level or
your previous salary level. Benefits will be provided according to structures at the new facility.
Employees transferred under these circumstances and remain active in an HCA facility will be
eligible to receive a housing allowance of one months rent, up to a maximum of $800.
Reimbursement will be provided upon receipt of proper documentation. This housing allowance
is in addition to any amounts received from the HCA Hope Fund.
All About Staffing will maintain a master list of all employees who transferred onto a hospital
payroll or to All About Staffing payroll. If you are unable to locate an appropriate job opportunity
within an HCA facility, please contact All About Staffing to register your skill sets for consideration
when future opportunities become available. Please call All About Staffing at 1-866-WORKS4U,
1-866-967-5748 or 1-954-514-1300.
Displaced clinical workers may be offered interim employment in other areas of the
country through All About Staffing. Individuals who are interested in working in other HCA
Hospitals should contact All About Staffing. Please call 1-866-WORKS4U, 1-866-967-5748 or 1954-514-1300. Individuals who are employed through All About Staffing will receive temporary
housing and transportation support offered through All About Staffing. Housing support is defined
to be housing to support the employee’s immediate family. Compensation will be determined as
the greater of current market rate or the prior employer rate.
Displaced support workers who are unable to find employment within Louisiana.
Employees may contact the nearest HCA facility or All About Staffing to explore opportunities.
HCA HOPE Fund accepting donations and offering relief. To request assistance from or to
make a donation to the HCA Hope Fund, please call #1-877-857-4673 (HOPE) or go to
www.HCAhopefund.org.
LifeTimes Connection – Employees have been contacting LifeTimes Connection to request
loans and/or hardship withdrawals from their 401(k) Plan accounts. ERISA currently will not allow
hardship withdrawals for reconstruction or repair of a residence. However, there are other
approved hardship categories, including medical expenses, purchase of primary residence and
expenses associated with secondary education.
As you know, LifeTimes requires a password/PIN for the protection of employees and their
account balances. We made temporary alternative arrangements for residents of Louisiana and
Mississippi to access their account information and request a loan or hardship withdrawal. You
must provide various pieces of personal information that should be readily available, including
name, Social Security Number, Dates of birth and hire, and names and birth dates of dependants.
Instead of resetting your PIN, you may request a transaction. For a 60-day temporary period, we
will allow loan checks to be mailed to a temporary address and applicable loan fees ($75) will be
waived. Prior to taking a loan from your 401(k) account, please be sure you have explored
assistance from the HCA Hope Fund first.
If you are on paid leave of absence, medical coverage will not be cancelled. This exception will
be reviewed in 60 days.
It is critical you inform LifeTimes Connection of any address changes in the upcoming
months. You may contact LifeTimes Connection at 1-800-566-4114 or through
HCABenefits.com.
World Travel BTI will stay open over the holiday weekend to help patients, families of
patients and employees with travel, lodging or other relocation issues. To contact WTBTI,
individuals can call 800-892-4188 or, in Nashville, they can call 615-360-1333. WTBTI is
scheduled to remain open from 8-5 on Saturday, September 3rd. If the volume indicates a need,
they will have staff available on Sunday and Monday during these hours as well. If people call
outside the hours of 8-5, any day, the regular after-hours service is available. The number is 800973-7896.
Our third priority is to develop a recovery plan. This task is impaired by the devastation to
the city and its infrastructure, which is deteriorating further due to the flooding. We don’t
know when our employees will be able to return to the city, much less our facilities. Until
conditions stabilize, it is impossible to do any longer term recovery planning.
As you can imagine, there is no contingency plan that could ever be developed to respond to
what the area is experiencing. Everyone in our HCA family is totally committed to doing
whatever it takes to get our facilities operational as soon as possible. Your patience and
understanding is appreciated as we work our way through the complexities.