Kansas officials are discouraging doctors, nurses and health care technicians from going to areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

“Our latest information indicates that Louisiana has reached the point of having sufficient health staff on board,” said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The notice, she said, also applied to “emergency responders – firemen, policemen, EMTs, anyone who’s called to serve in time of crisis.”

Watson said the National Emergency Management Assn. has asked state departments of emergency preparedness to compile lists of willing health care volunteers.

In Kansas, KDHE is charged with maintaining the state’s list.

Watson said plans called for those on the list to be dispatched as they are needed.

“The need will be there for a long time,” Watson said. “Right now, the most important thing is to have a coordinated effort so that enough people are in the right place at the right time.”

Area nurses in the Mary Grimes School of Nursing at Neosho County Community College's Ottawa campus are hoping to get word that they can travel south to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. Training in a school lab Friday, students who hope to make the trip are, from left, Lisa Nelick, Lawrence, Carol Patterson, Baldwin and Fanta Chansaviang, Lawrence.

NEMA officials, Watson said, have reported “persistent problems with self-responders – people showing up unannounced where they’re not really needed.”

Doctors, nurses and technicians willing to volunteer their services, Watson said, are encouraged to register by completing a form on the department’s Web site: www.kdhe.state.ks.us.

“Earlier in the week, 90 people had signed up,” Watson said. “I’m sure it’s more than that now.”

Seventeen students and at least three instructors from Neosho County Community College’s nursing program in Ottawa spent part of Friday afternoon on KDHE’s Web site, filling out their forms.

“We’re registered,” said Pam Colvault, the college’s site coordinator in Ottawa.

Colvault and several students spent much of Friday on the telephone, calling Red Cross offices and hospitals, offering their services.

“It turned out to be a lot more complicated than we thought it would be,” Colvault said. “There’s a lot of red tape to get through.”

Colvault said KDHE contacted the group late Friday, encouraging them to register and wait, rather than leaving for New Orleans.

“We’ve done that,” she said. “Now, we’re kind of looking at Houston. If we’re needed, we’ll go. If we’re not needed, we’ll wait.”

Nursing student Drew Trybom, 26, of rural Lawrence, is ready to go.

“When you watch what’s happening on TV, you really get this craving to help people,” said Trybom, who also works in the radiology department at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“I get to help people at the hospital, but after seeing what’s going on in Louisiana and Mississippi, I want to do more.”