BIRTH OF THE COMMON GROUND HEALTH CLINIC by Orissa Arend

When Katrina churned into the Gulf, Malik Rahim and his partner Sharon
Johnson decided to hunker down in their Algiers bungalow. They had always ridden
out hurricanes. And as a former deputy of security in the Black Panther Party, Malik
knew quite a lot about making preparations for just about anything.
Three days after the storm a techno-miracle occurred. Mary Ratclliff, editor of
the San Francisco Bay View, reached Malik on his land line. He was incensed. “This
is criminal,” he told her. “There are gangs of white vigilantes near here, riding around
in pick-up trucks, all of them armed . . . People whose homes and families were not
destroyed went into the city right away with boats to bring survivors out, but law
enforcement told them they weren’t needed. I’m in the Algiers neighborhood. The
water is good. Our parks and schools could easily hold forty thousand people, and
they’re not using any of it. . . This is criminal.” Ratcliff typed like crazy as he talked.

Read entire story (pdf)

 

Article from The Link Concordia's Independent Newspaper:

An island in the stream

In the wake of Katrina, a Montreal street nurse gives a living lesson on how to counter disaster capitalism

By Christopher Olson

At the launch of Canadian socialist Naomi Klein's blistering press tour to publicize her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, a wiry man approached the microphone to say hello to Klein, an old acquaintance of his.

Scott Weinstein, a Montreal-based street medic and community nurse, first met Klein in a disaster stricken New Orleans immediately following hurricane Katrina's devastating sweep through the Gulf of Mexico. Their reunion was an impromptu interruption to an evening centered on corporate corruption. Read the entire story..

Common Ground Health Clinic Presents
Herbalism 101 for Health Professionals With Phyllis D. Light, RH
Saturday, December 8 from 8:30 – 11:30 AM at Common Ground Health Clinic

Phyllis D. Light is an herbalist and healer with almost 25 years of clinical experience. She is traditionally trained in Appalachian Folk Medicine. Phyllis is an herbal consultant to allied health professionals throughout the region and supports an integrative approach to well-being and a preventive health model based on healthy lifestyle choices. Phyllis is currently a national nursing CEU provider and a Registered Healthcare Educator. She is also an American Herbalist Guild professional member. Phyllis currently supervises the herbalism program at the Common Ground Health Clinic.
Download handout here
This workshop is free. CEU and/or CME credit may apply.
Please RSVP; space is limited. Contact Wendy at achillea76@yahoo.com
or (828)255-4646.

Please Join Us!

September 15, 2007

Take a look at the new newsletters!

•Newsletter

•Special 2nd Anniversary Issue

September 5, 2007

There is a new rule coming from the federal government that would require government ID before gaining access to any disaster site. If this rule had been in place after Katrina, the clinic would not exist. Read the Washington Post article.

September 1, 2007

Jennifer Whitney discusses the founding of LHOP in her article in Real Change News.

August 30, 2007

Clinic Medical Director Dr. Ravi Vadlamudi was interviewed recently by CNN. In another venue, satyrical cartoonist Mark Fiore has made a piece about health care in New Orleans. Pay special attention to the end of the cartoon.

August 28, 2007

The Board, Volunteers and Staff of Common Ground Health Clinic would like to personally invite you to the second year anniversary celebration coming up on the 8th of September 2007 beginning at 4pm. If you are in town, please feel free to stop by and share a meal and some live music (New Orleans' Style) with us. Please click on the anniversary invitation letter for details. Check out our new "Donor Profiles" page! Thank you for your support.

August 20, 2007

Check out this National Radio Project interview with clinic director Ravi Vadlamudi and long-term volunteer Jennifer Whitney about the clinic's Latino Health Outreach Project.

August 8, 2007

Common Ground Health Clinic partner People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond will be offering another Undoing Racism training in Algiers on August 24th – 25th at the Craige Cultural Center/Hall in Algiers. The training will go from 7pm – 9pm on Friday and from 9am – 5pm on Saturday. This training comes as a follow-up to the workshop that was held in April. The spring training was funded by the Common Ground Health Clinic as part of its Community Health and Strength Initiative. Due to the success of the training in April and the enthusiasm of Algiers residents to host another, the People’s Institute has been working with a committee of local residents with support from the clinic to organize a second training. The People’s Institute has graciously offered to give this workshop for free. However, a donation of $25 is requested to cover the cost of food and rental space. These series of trainings will hopefully strengthen community relationships, enhance an anti-racist analysis of their attendees, and offer concrete tools to help residents organize around issues facing Algiers. If you would like to attend the training or have any questions please send an e-mail to steinjm3@yahoo.com.

August 6, 2007

R. "Noah" Morris, Clinic volunteer and co-founder will be presenting on Grassroots Disaster Response at The Southeast Convergence for Climate
Action. He will be talking about the need for flexibility in response and the necessity for good planning and the need to abandon plans as they become irrelevant.
The Southeast Convergence for Climate Action, near Asheville, North Carolina, will bring together activists across the region who are fighting mountaintop removal mining and coal and nuclear power plants. Mountaintop removal coal mining is currently devastating the ecologically diverse southern Appalachian Mountains. The convergence will consist of a week of information and skill-based workshops, strategy sessions, and direct action aimed at building a no-compromise climate justice movement. With some of the Big Green environmental groups selling out to the nuclear and "clean" coal industries, and large, corporate-led climate initiatives
designed to preempt any meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions being pushed in DC, grassroots groups need to join forces with affected communities to fight the fossil fuel empire and create truly sustainable, community-based solutions outside of the capitalist system. Please visit http://www.climateconvergence.org/southeast/ for more information.

July 29, 2007

Check out the new visual presentation showing the clinic renovations!

July 24, 2007

Today's New York Times online edition is featuring the clinic in a video on the front page, and in an article.

July 23, 2007

Clinic Reopens After One Month Of Renovations
The Board, staff and Volunteers of Common Ground Health Clinic are happy to announce the re-opening of the clinic after four weeks of renovations. The renovation is our way of informing our patients and community that we are commited to being a community clinic without losing sight of our roots. The clinic started as a door-to-door first aid service provided by volunteers from all over the United States and beyond, transitioned into a street corner clinic in a Mosque and later into our present location in what was a corner store on Teche Street. We'll be sharing pictures of the transition in the days ahead as our second anniversary nears. Thank you for your continued support. We couldn't have made it to this point without the commitment of individuals and groups who have given so much to make this free community clinic a reality.

click to see slideshow

May 8, 2007

Common Ground Health Clinic Benefits from PCTS and Partner’s Drawing at HiMSS 07

                                          This year, the annual HiMSS Conference and Exposition was held in New Orleans, LA. The philanthropic arm of HiMSS, The HiMSS Foundation, selected the Common Ground Health Clinic as its charity of choice for this year’s event.

more...

January 26, 2007 Update

RECOVERY GRANTS AWARDED TO HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS SERVING HURRICANE-AFFECTED COMMUNITIES

The Baxter International Foundation Health Recovery Fund awards grants totaling $833,813 to support organizations working to improve the health of Mid Southerners
NEW ORLEANS, LA (January 6, 2007) – The Common Ground Health Clinic (CGHC) Is proud to announce its reception of a grant intended for the formation of the Community Health and Strength Project (CGHC-CH&SP) totaling $200,000 from the Foundation for The Mid-South (FMS) on behalf of The Baxter International Foundation Health Recovery Fund. The fund was established in February of 2006 to support the recovery and restoration efforts of community-based health care clinics, nonprofits, and other community-based health services in the Mid South after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. more...

 

November 14, 2006
by Stevie Peace

Common Ground Health Clinic serves approximately 200 patients per week and all the provider visits are free of charge. The top three diagnoses seen at the clinic are hypertension, diabetes and stress management—all chronic poverty-related conditions. Almost all of our patients have no medical insurance and formerly received their care at Charity Hospital. Many of the patients have never had a consistent primary care provider until coming to Common Ground Health Clinic. Even though the “Small History of the Clinic” demonstrates that we have come a long way since opening our doors last September, our challenges are still great and the healthcare needs of our clients have not yet been fully addressed.

One of our challenges is increasing access to medication. Many patients leave the clinic with prescriptions that will not be filled due to their high cost. We have a small medication closet that is stocked with donated medications, but since most of these donations were received in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, our supplies are decreasing. Funding could be used to purchase a large quantity of generic medications to offer to our patients.

In May of 2006, Common Ground started offering laboratory services to many of the patients. We arranged a contract with a local lab provider to assist us at a reduced rate. The patients are asked to pay for the labs and the cost for each patient is approximately 13 dollars. For many of our patients, this is a large expense. We are looking for financial support to cover the cost for patients who are unable to pay for this service.

We are also hoping to expand our women’s health services and offer routine pap smears. Women’s health is systematically overlooked nationwide and worldwide, as well as here in New Orleans. As a clinic, we recognize that addressing oppression through consistent quality healthcare for women is a crucial step towards alleviating the consequences of poverty. We are in need of equipment and funds to cover the cost of these services.

Our implicit goal in overcoming these challenges is to increase access to primary care services at our clinic, so that New Orleans residents no longer have to depend on emergency rooms and hospitals for assistance with chronic condition care. Similarly, our longer-term goal is to provide enough tools and mechanisms for our clients to maintain their own healthcare and decrease dependence on the clinic. Thus we also seek funding for preventative services and health education programs that stress lifestyle modifications and community engagement with health issues.

Lastly, the Common Ground Health Clinic wants to continue developing its strong commitment to the Algiers neighborhood. Many of our clients have expressed to us the potential for the clinic to be an asset and empowering institution for the surrounding community, and based on these suggestions we are working to upgrade our current space (a former cornerstore), both in terms of dimension and condition. We may even want to move into a new building that can better accommodate our clients as our services continue to expand. Improvement, development, and maintenance of the clinic space will be a financial priority over the coming years, and we would greatly appreciate assistance for these expenses.