04:33 PM CDT on Saturday, September 17, 2005

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center today announced it has secured housing for its New Orleans based medical center staff and students. The housing will in part be provided on an overnight ferry docked in Baton Rouge with funding provided by multiple sources. Additional housing will be provided in temporary manufactured housing.

"These housing arrangements will allow for operations at the Medical School and Medical Center continue this semester," said LSU System President William Jenkins. "We're thankful to be able to secure the ferry. Without it, we'd have no where to house our students, jeopardizing the future of our health care professional schools."

Following Hurricane Katrina, LSU operations were moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Approximately 1400 medical staff and students will be housed on the FinnJet Ferry, 705-feet-long (215 meters) passenger ship that can carry up to 1,800 passengers in 499 cabins.

The ferry, which is based in Germany, will arrive in Baton Rouge by October 2, shortly after classes are set to resume for health care students. Students from the School of Allied Health Professions, School of Dentistry, School of Graduate Studies, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Public Health, will call the FinnJett home for the next several months until labs and classrooms at the Health Science Center in New Orleans are repaired.

The ferry will be provided by Silja, the leading passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea.