New York Times Covers NOLA Charity Hospital Months After NAC
Diana Lind | Wed, Nov 26th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: New Orleans | Tags: new orleans, diana lind, next american city, new york times, brentin mock, charity hospital
It’s nearly Thanksgiving — a time to be grateful. We do that at Next American City by thanking our writers who get on top of stories long before other national media do. I’m even more grateful that I think our writer, Brentin Mock (now a Metcalf Fellow on Environmental Reporting at the American Prospect), did a more thorough job of covering the controversy than today’s piece in the New York Times.
The basic gist of the controversy is that New Orleans is building an enormous, expensive new hospital and bulldozing part of a neighborhood in order to do that. At the same time, the legendary NOLA institution, Charity Hospital, has been condemned even since Hurricane Katrina rather than retrofitted. While the new hospital will undoubtedly serve the wealthy better than Charity ever could, the poor will unlikely receive the same kind of care at the new hospital that they were offered at Charity (which was established to serve the indigent). Also, while the new hospital is being built, it seems that a number people, especially those who depended on mental health professionals, have not been able to receive good care in the interim.
During the summer, Ted, a commenter, disagreed with the angle of Brentin’s story. What’s your take on the situation?
Diana Lind is editor in chief of Next American City magazine.
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Get the Facts in Louisiana
Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 10:31am
No one is saying we don’t want or need health care rebuilt in New Orleans. The true issue is that we can have all the benefits of this new medical complex, all the economic boosters, 2 state of the art medical facilities - and even greater synergy with ALL of the medical complexes in the area - and we can have it faster, with less expense, without all the destruction.
Charity Hospital is able to be rehabilitated into a ultra modern technological wonder, as proven by one of the top firms in the nation (see their study at http://www.fhl.org ). VA should build on the less residentially populated area, even closer to the exisiting medical complexes nearby - like Tulane, Delgado, Bio-Innovation Center, and the new Cancer Consortium. Less time would be wasted in getting health care back, less money would have to be paid by the taxpayers, and the densely populated historic neighborhood could be saved - all consistent with proper urban planning.
We should all question why this is not the chosen path. Please get the facts.