Hurricane Gustav took its toll on St. Charles Community Health Center, just outside New Orleans, which we visited on our last day. The main clinic was spared, but the Behavioral Health/Podiatry/Administration building across the street sustained severe structural damage. The roof was picked up, causing leaks and water damage and the fire escape was torn from the building and destroyed.
Read more →This morning we met with Emma Tanner at Capitol City Family Health Center in Baton Rouge. Capitol City moved into a beautiful new facility last December, where it offers primary care, dental services, HIV counseling/testing, immunization, mental health, lab testing, and nutrition education services. If a patient comes in for something like stitches, he can meet with a dentist, complete
Read more →This is a personal “From the Field” story by Direct Relief Employee Katie Lewis, USA Partner Liaison. We traveled about 60 miles northeast of Baton Rouge to visit Ginger Hunt, CEO at the RKM Primary Care Clinic in Clinton, a very rural part of the state. RKM, which opened in March 1999, is one of the newer buildings in the area.
Read more →This is a personal “From the Field” story by Direct Relief Employee Katie Lewis, USA Partner Liaison. We toured New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward in the morning, where much of the devastation from Katrina is still apparent. Crossing the Industrial Canal, we could see the newly constructed levees. It wasn’t hard to imagine how, with enough water, the canal could overflow
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Prolonged power outages and sustained damage from Hurricane Gustav are taxing health centers in Louisiana, who have played a key role in caring for evacuees, special needs, and low-income patients. Winds up to 110 miles per hour downed power lines, caused flooding, and damaged structures, including health clinics and hospitals in the Category 2 hurricane’s path. The $150,000 Direct Relief
Read more →Direct Relief International today announced it has committed $250,000 in special hurricane response funds to assist the medical “safety net” – nonprofit clinics, community health centers, and alternate care sites at evacuation and shelter areas – along the U.S. Gulf Coast in response to Hurricane Gustav, which is expected to make landfall Monday. “We think it’s important to make these
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