A New Orleans resident consults with Dr. Davison at the medical fair. Thirty-five percent of the New Orleans population has no health insurance.

Dr. Betterton writes a prescription for a patient. With chronically ill patients requiring up to three drugs each, the need for a large, well-stocked pharmacy is critical to the clinic's success.

NEW ORLEANS - The floodwaters of Katrina have long since receded, but as residents return home, another more pressing crisis is emerging: lack of sufficient medical care.

"The medical crisis in New Orleans is much like the kind you would experience in a third world country," said Jody Herrington, Disaster Relief Manager for Operation Blessing.

As nearly 150,000 evacuees return to the city, the number of returning doctors is less than adequate. Only one-fourth of the doctors have returned to the Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard Parishes, and in Orleans alone, only two locations are receiving patients: Touro Infirmary and Children’s Hospital.

Responding to the need, OBI teamed up with International Medical Alliance (IMA), the City of New Orleans Health Department and Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps (RAM), last week to sponsor a medical fair in New Orleans. At the fair, 9,600 patients were seen and an average of 650 prescriptions dispensed daily.

A medical report submitted by Dr. Dale Betterton, Medical Director for IMA and Dr. Dorothy Davison, IMA President, indicated that since the holidays, ‘there has been an increase in the number of returning evacuees, many of whom have serious chronic illnesses."

"Not only is a free, primary health care clinic highly desirable and necessary," the report indicated, "it borders on being essential for a burgeoning, ill population."

Based on the success of the medical fair, OBI and IMA are moving forward with plans to launch a disaster relief medical clinic in New Orleans to aid Katrina victims – many of whom are unemployed and without health insurance.

"We are moving forward with great diligence, strategy and cooperation with the New Orleans government and medical community," Herrrington said. "Our hope is to have the clinic up and running by mid-March."

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

 

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