After Bracing for the Worst, Louisiana Health Centers are Ready for Next Time

By Talya Meyers, JULY 15, 2019 4:48 PM

As slow-moving Tropical Storm Barry crawled over the Louisiana coastline, health centers braced for the worst. “We were ready for the sky to fall,” laughed Shawn Powers, CEO of Baptist Community Health Services in New Orleans. In the days leading up to the storm, health centers kept pharmacies open, checked in with anxious patients, and even delivered medications and food. Temperature-sensitive medications were moved to refrigerators that could be powered by a generator.

Doctors took home “go bags” designed for hurricane-related emergency care, and offered to be on call throughout the weekend. Hurricane Prep Packs – a Direct Relief kit containing enough medical items to treat 100 patients for three to five days – were cracked open. A few days later, the sky above New Orleans is clearer – and the future looks brighter.

The health centers received a few phone calls from patients who didn’t have medication, weren’t sure where to go, or were having difficulty managing stress. During the rains that pelted New Orleans before the storm’s arrival, one Access Health Louisiana clinic experienced flooding, and the roof of a parking lot next door to the other caved in. (No one was injured.)

By and large, though, health centers described the event as a welcome anticlimax. But Tropical Storm Barry wasn’t just a false alarm. It was a vital chance for New Orleans to test its disaster response – and feel more prepared for the future.

Read the full article by visiting https://www.directrelief.org/2019/07/after-bracing-for-the-worst-louisiana-health-centers-are-ready-for-next-time/.