Medpage Today’s Charles Bankhead provides a moving and heartening video account of all the ways in which the medical community in New Orleans has responded post-Katrina.

Right now, many people are saying that they just don’t feel much like having a holiday.

If you are looking for a good reason to believe in humankind in 2009, please listen to Bankhead’s story.

• A chairman of internal medicine made rounds in a canoe.

• Residents learned how to open up neighborhood clinics because their hospital clinics were closed.

• Applications are at a peak, coming in from students eager to be part of this from-the-ground-up, in the most literal sense, transformation of New Orleans’ health care system.

(Ed. Note: Go to Special Report and hit the play button to get the video story.)

Medpage Today

…”Post-Katrina New Orleans epitomized the adage that bad situations bring out the worst and the best in people. The worst received the most attention: looting, muggings, AWOL police officers, and public officials and private citizens alike behaving badly. The good received considerably less attention, especially outside of New Orleans and surrounding areas.

“Despite the death (more than 1,800 people died) and destruction (an estimated $110 billion), Katrina brought out the very best in many people.

Doctors Reach Out

“Upon returning to the city, resident physicians from Tulane University immediately recognized a huge healthcare void and set out to fill it as best they could, said Karen DeSalvo, MD, vice dean and professor of medicine at the university.

“Tulane residents fanned out over the city and set up makeshift clinics wherever they could find the space and resources: from street corners and tents to buildings that escaped the flood waters. Using whatever medical supplies they could obtain, they started dispensing free healthcare services. (Emphasis added)

“Faculty, staff, and students at LSU Health Science Center worked side-by-side with clean-up crews to remove tons of trash, damaged equipment, and even human waste from Charity Hospital and other facilities. (Emphasis added)

“The not-for-profit Ochsner Foundation hospitals accepted record numbers of indigent and uninsured patients. (Emphasis added)

“Even as water filled the basements and ground floors of most buildings, patients remained in hospitals and required care. Lee Hamm, MD, chair of internal medicine at Tulane, commandeered a resident’s canoe to make rounds until the streets were passable. (Emphasis added)

Source: Medpage Today, November 30, 2009