According to the doctor, what is their primary work at present?

As Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Dr. Fred Cerise has had little time to rest since Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic flooding that followed. Dr. Cerise spoke with VOA in the state capital at Baton Rouge while a helicopter waited outside, ready to take him on an inspection tour over a devastated New Orleans.
    "Our priority now is essentially establishing a medical system for a million people who have been displaced from the New Orleans area. These are people have had chronic diseases and other physical mental diseases and disabilities, those type of things that were all ’plugged into’ health systems in that area that don’t exist anymore."
    Dr. Cerise’s department has overseen efforts to relocate patients evacuated from New Orleans hospitals to medical care facilities in other parts of the state. Its department has also set up temporary shelters for those with special medical needs that do not require hospitalization. He adds that many with psychological needs also need urgent care.
    "First and foremost you’ve got the people who have responded to the crisis, and the things they were dealing with. Crowds of people, people that were dying. We have people that were out in the field seeing bodies and things like that who have been traumatized. We do have teams out there working with them to address those needs," he added.