10 years after Katrina, New Orleans finally opens a full-scale public hospital
US News
10 years after Katrina, New Orleans finally opens a full-scale public hospital
Ten years after the levees and floodwalls broke during Hurricane Katrina and flooded New Orleans, the Big Easy finally has a full-scale public hospital again — a new Charity hospital.At 6 a.m. Saturday, the new 1.6-million-square-foot University Medical Center New Orleans, built with $1.1 billion of federal rebuilding money, ambulances and medical staff began the transfer of 200 patients into the new hospital for its first day of operations. Orchestrating the move required closing down streets as ambulances take patients into the facility, affectionately also called the “Spirit of Charity.”
It was a herculean effort to recast public health delivery and the success of this effort creates a legacy that will be celebrated for generations to come.
LCMC Health CEO Greg C. Feirn
“It will be a safety net hospital,” said Dr. Peter DeBlieux, UMC’s chief medical officer and director of emergency services.The UMC complex is the successor to the towering 1930s-era Charity Hospital, a 1-million-square-foot Art Deco downtown institution much loved in New Orleans. In tandem with the UMC campus, a new adjoining U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital is slated to open next year.
