A Tale of Two Cities

I'm sure you've all heard about the Chocolate City speech. The now famous (or infamous) mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, spoke on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day about how he wants New Orleans to be chocolate at the end of the day, and he didn't care what those people in Uptown thoughts. While I don't necessarily agree with what Mayor Nagin said, he did get one thing right - New Orleans is two separate cities. There's the tree-lined, Katrina-undamaged, posh, wedding-cake house Uptown area and there's the rest of the city. And while the Garden District and the Uptown area is beautiful, it doesn't represent all of New Orleans. There's the 9th ward, the Hoffman triangle, Center City, downtown, Canal Street, New Orleans east - interesting places, but still in need of some determined help.

Last night, in celebration of finished a horrible biostats test, I went with some friends to the NOLA Healthcare Townhall Meeting - a "candid discussion with industry leaders." The meeting, taking place in one of Tulane's uptown campus buildings, was composed of about 10 healthcare professionals, all with beautiful letters after their names, as if trying to outdo each other. MB.BS, MSW, MD, M.P.A., Ph.D.,... so many letters. There wasn't one RN, community member, or volunteer. The first speaker, who will remain nameless, said that New Orleans healthcare did not suffer from a lack of money but from a lack of resources. He argued for an improvement of the current facilities, making them cutting edge, rather than focusing on primary healthcare. Has the man seen the people who need healthcare?!

While Nola does need to develop its tertiary healthcare system, it needs to start with the basics. How can a truly equal system be constructed without starting from the bottom, building a firm foundation of primary care? Charity Hospital, now closed, provided care to those with no insurance but how many of those problems could have been minimized with primary care months earlier. Many people without health insurance wait until a problem is severe enough to interfere with daily life to do something about it. They have little or no prior relationship with a healthcare worker and often lack the basic foundation of information necessary to make an educated decision. Now, you might be thinking that my comments are derisive and demeaning - that only uneducated people lack health insurance. However, that's not the case. In many places, the majority of uninsured or underinsured are people in their 20s - those who could afford insurance but don't see the necessity of it. In this case, Nola's healthcare problem is not a lack of money. But in many cases, it is. People lack the monetary flexibility to take a day off from work to wait in line at a free clinic to hopefully get an appointment. If they can get an appointment, they can't always make time to fulfill the referrals or they can't afford the recommended treatment. So even while charity clinics are becoming all the rage, they aren't the solution - they're a poor band aid that you hope stops the bleeding.

With 47% of the New Orleans population living under 200% of the poverty line, money is a problem. So how do you change this? Several solutions were proposed. While these solutions are time and money consuming, they may be the only way to help Nola healthcare.

• improve access to TIMELY, QUALITY, AFFORDABLE care;
• increase prevention and wellness events/activities/education - it costs 4-5 times more to cure problems than to prevent them;
• create a safe environment with access to healthy lifestyle choices - when it's cheaper to buy high calorie, low nutrient fast food, it's hard to make healthy lifestyle choices;
• improve and maintain continuity of care - Katrina messed up a lot of people's lives - continuity is critical.
• create a holistic health care system.

New Orleans should not be two cities - one chocolate, one vanilla. Let's go for the happy, soft-serve swirl.

St. Charles Streetcar :) and 9th Ward :(

There is always so much going on in New Orleans. It's such a diverse, crazy, wonderful, busy, quiet, slow, quick city. I know that makes little sense, but that's how it is.

This weekend was no exception. Saturday I walked to the end of the French Quarter with Holly to go to the Frenchman Street Bookfair. While the bookfair was not exactly my type of bookfair (many anarchist and liberation books, mixed with some book about an alien abduction with a few New Orleans books and recipe books and many hurricane books), we passed a church yard sale on our way there. On the way back, feeling extremely disappointed by the lack of books we wanted to buy, we stopped at the yard sale. That's when the fun began - a huge tent full of books - 5 softcover for a dollar and 1 hardcover for a dollar. Just in case you don't know me well enough... I bought 8 books! I couldn't fit any more in my bag!

We stopped back at the house to grab some lunch, then took the bus down St. Charles to Napoleon to go to the .... St. Charles Streetcar party!!! The streetcars, many having been destroyed in Katrina and the lines being messed up, have not run up St. Charles since before Katrina. While one ran from Canal to Lee Circle, this pathetic attempt was only used by tourists because it only really ran about 5 blocks. However, on Saturday, they opened it from Canal to Napoleon!!! You probably are questioning my excitement over the opening of a form of transportation that I can out walk, however, this is really one case where you have to be here. When so much else seems to be floundering, opening the streetcar is a symbol of the city. Now, if they could only make many of the destroyed neighborhoods a symbol of the city too...

A few weekends ago, I went with my friend Alana and her Dutch friend to the much publicized 9th ward. The most shocking thing about the whole experience was how unfazed I was. Yes, there was debris everywhere and many abandoned houses, but it's almost what I've seen many other places. In comparison to the Hoffman Triangle area, it's somewhat nicer. That's not saying a whole lot though. There are few schools open and even fewer shops. Below are some of the pictures I took.

Halloween in Nola and Surveying in Hoffman Triangle 11/7/07

So New Orleans during Halloween... I still can't figure out exactly how to explain it. The costumes are OUTRAGEOUS and so creative! For most people, it seems to be the test run for Mardi Gras - if the costume can last the night walking and drinking during Halloween with few troubles, it's good for Mardi Gras. On Halloween, I went down to Bourbon St, which surprisingly, was not that crazy (however, my definitions of crazy have changed slightly since living here). But, I walked farther into the Quarter to Frenchman St, which was NUTS. All of the people there were natives (or at least not tourists) and they had the best costumes, mostly self-created or very elaborate. Basically, the entire street was a block party! It was great :)
This past weekend, I helped do a household survey of this area called the Hoffman Triangle. It's in Center City (so was badly flooded) and this particular area has not recovered well. So, basically, my job was to go house to house and survey people to get demographic info and do a basic needs assessment. It was really sad b/c there were so few houses that were actually occupied. But, it was REALLY exciting when we found someone to survey and (almost) all the people I talked with were extremely friendly. I can't imagine living there and can definitely understand why people decided not to move back. Except for a few well-populated streets (and they were usually isolated from other well-populated blocks and still had vacant houses), the area was very sparse. Moving back, gutting your house, trying to get your kids in school and have friends, getting groceries, etc, would all be huge challenges and there's little incentive to face them. I was glad to be able to walk around that area though and get to know the city a little better. This week, I'm busy entering the data into spreadsheets to analyze it. Should be interesting what we find out!

That's pretty much all that's going on right now. I'm looking forward to going home over Thanksgiving (I'm taking a week and visiting my sister and my aunt in NYC then going home for 2 days). My sister and I have been counting down the days :)

On the Other Hand 10/24/07

New Orleans is a great city. It's so different than other cities I've been to. This month, there is a jazz concert every Wednesday in Lafayette Square (close to my school). The concert is full of all different types of people - I think that might be what I like most. There are young children, elderly people, whites, blacks, families, students, business people... It's really nice going b/c you hear great music and it's great for people watching. While there is still a lot of work left to do in the city, there is also a lot of progress. There is pretty much construction everywhere!

While the city is a little more difficult to get around b/c you can't/shouldn't walk everywhere, unlike in Williamsburg, the public transportation is ALWAYS an adventure. I take the bus most days to school and navigating the system has been a bit of a challenge. But, I think I have the hang of it now. The city is also working on improving the system - one of the highlights of my week last week was seeing a streetcar go down St. Charles. I live about a block off of St. Charles in the lower Garden District. When Katrina hit, the entire streetcar system was wiped out. While it's running a little now (about 4 blocks - mainly tourists take it), it should be running about half way up St. Charles by November. It was very exciting to see it go past my block. Last week was a bit of a crazy week. Some of my classes are only half a semester (so the profs can do research out of the country) so I had several final exams and projects due. However, they went really well, and I miss not having those classes because they were so interesting. But, I did pick up another class, Public Nutrition and Health in Complex Emergencies. So far, it's very interesting and I think I might want to work in complex emergencies in the future. I'm also starting to look at classes for next semester - my only problem is that I want to take so many!

This week has been a very weather-full week (yes, I made up that word, but it's very applicable). On Saturday, it was beautiful weather - perfect outdoor, sunshine, nice comfortable temp. Sunday, the weather was hot and humid. Monday, we had torrential rain and flash flooding. Tuesday, more dark gloominess turning to windy and cold. Today, a little warmer (not much). The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, luckily!


On Saturday, I went costume shopping. New Orleanians love dressing up for any occasion, and Halloween is no exception. Apparently, things get crazy! So, I went to this store called "On the Other Hand." The woman who owns the store is amazing! She smokes like a chimney, is incredibly cheerful, and definitely from New Orleans. The store is a consignment store and she has the most amazing clothing from 20s dresses to Indian wedding outfits. When we came in, she told us everything was half off, the pink tagged items were 90% off, and everything was negotiable! I got a fully-sequined dress for $3, my friend got a bridesmaid dress for $25 and my other friend got a fully-beaded long dress for $20! It was great! Then, the lady asked if we could take pictures for her to see us in our lovely costumes :)

Boring Finals/Exam Week 10/20/07

I've been up to lots of boring stuff... I had several finals this week (3 of my classes are only half a semester - it's weird) so I did a whole lot of studying and nothing else. But, on Friday I went to the "grad school networking event" - which was not really a networking event so much as a huge free party where drinks were only a dollar and there was free food and music. It was also right on the river and in one of the tallest buildings in the city, so there were amazing views! This weekend I'm going to a blues/jazz festival. I really love how there is so much free music in this city! I'm also going to go salsa dancing again (not free but worth the money cause live music and fun dancing!). Anyway, that's my life right now. I'm excited though cause I just booked plane tickets home for Thanksgiving. I'm going to get a whole week of vacation (I'm skipping some classes) but I'll get to see my sister (she just started school at Fordham in NYC) and my whole family. So, I'm really excited!

Corruption, Salsa Dancing, and the Superdome 10/2/07

The city has kept growing on me. There's just so much to do and so many things to see and hear and taste. New Orleans is definitely a 5 sense city! While school work keeps me pretty busy during the week, I've been trying to do something fun on the weekends. I've been to Bourbon St (I would recommend it once, just to see, and then to get away as soon as possible!), jazz clubs (jazz is my new favorite music), salsa dancing, and the Superdome (Tulane vs. LSU - Tulane lost, but not as badly as expected). Have you ever been to New Orleans? If not, I would highly recommend it. I know it's known for it's, umm, interesting places, but it's also a city full of churches and people who really care - about each other and about their city.

My program is also going really well - there is someone here from almost every country, including Iraq and Afghanistan. People from other countries bring such interesting views to our discussions. The more people I meet from other countries, the more I want to travel to all of the countries. I have a friend who's from Guinea and he's already invited me to come stay with his family once I'm done with school. It's wonderful!

Louisiana has some corruption in the government but I'm still not sure of the extent or what they actually do that makes them corrupt, but many of the people running for office now talk about ending corruption and bringing morality back to the government. It's odd b/c the politicians also accuse each other endlessly of being corrupt!

This weekend I went salsa dancing! It was awesome! There's a street in the Quarter called Frenchmans - it's basically like Bourbon St, but without all the tourists and there are not as many crazy people. So, they had salsa dancing and while there were actually an equal number of men and women, there were only about 10 men dancing, while the others stood around looking stupid. However, those 10 men definitely got around - but they were all old men! It was still a lot of fun to actually dance - not just weird American dancing.

On Saturday, I went to the Tulane vs. LSU (Louisiana State University) football game in the Superdome. It was definitely worth while b/c I think it will be the only time I can afford to get into the Superdome. It's all fixed up now, but it was weird going there knowing what happened there when Katrina hit. But the game was great (although Tulane lost 37-9, ouch). :)

Safety and Politics in New Orleans 9/26/07

I feel safe in New Orleans most of the time. You shouldn't really walk around by yourself at night which kinda stinks, but the bus stops right outside my house, so it's not too much of a problem if I need to get back late. New Orleans is a weird city because there aren't specific neighborhoods where you shouldn't go (well, there are some) but more certain streets you shouldn't walk down. St. Charles, which is a main road, is really safe and so's Jackson (where I live) right off of St. Charles. But 4 blocks away from St. Charles on Jackson is not good. It's sporadic where safe areas and dangerous areas are. The general idea though is not to walk down streets that have "abandoned" houses. As for the news about NOLA, there was a ton of national news about it on the 2 year anniversary of Katrina but it died down really quickly after that. I think many people think the city is progressing too slowly, but forget that the entire infrastructure of the city was destroyed. Mail, garbage, jobs, transportation, everything. The progress that they've made could probably be faster, but it is the South and it's New Orleans... things go slower here anyway. And, yeah, Bush... grrr. He came here around the 2nd anniversary and said how he was going to support the city's rebuilding but he hasn't. GRR! The political news is really interesting... the national elections are still a while away so there's not too much going on there, but Louisiana is having a huge election year coming up. The state is really well known for its corruption (and NOLA for its... interesting mayor) so many of the candidates are talking about beating corruption. It's weird, though, because the state is super conservative so you'd think they'd reject corruption. But no.

Impressions of New Orleans 9/21/07

New Orleans is a great city. There is still A LOT of work to be done though. I live in the lower Garden District and pretty much on the border between what was flooded and what wasn't. Most of the tourist sites (French Quarter, Garden District) were not flooded, but there was still damage to electricity and some houses had wind damage. Once you get past that area, though, the repair is sporadic. Some areas are great - there are only a few still damaged houses and it looks pretty normal. Other areas are not so great - many houses are still "abandoned" (that doesn't mean that no one lives in them though, which makes those areas in particular pretty dangerous). On my walk to school (on Canal St.) there is a ton of construction going on and many buildings have been completely renovated. Lots of stores are open (although at strange times, but I'm not sure if that's just New Orleans or if that's from Katrina). Despite everything that's gone on in NOLA, the people are still wonderful - I've been taking the public bus to school sometimes and people just talk to you about their experiences. It's amazing. People are still VERY frustrated with the lack of funding, FEMA, and the levies, but they're trying their best to make due.

Classes are good too. They're all really interesting and I like that there is a very international aspect to the whole school - not just the classes. There are people studying here that have been all over the world. I'm living in a house with three other housemates - which is really interesting. There is another female public health student and 2 male part-time students. One is a bartender! Hehe, it's actually really nice living w/ people who aren't in public health and who know the city really well (one of my housemates has lived here for 7 years).