Fresh from our "You've gotta be kidding us" file, Maya Rodriguez of WWLTV is reporting that nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans East remains without a hospital. With great fanfare, the city bought the abandoned Methodist Hospital on Read Boulevard last summer, but little has been done with the property since then.
At a City Council committee meeting on Tuesday, the frustration was clear in the voices of some New Orleans East residents. "As a health care worker, I'm concerned about my neighbors," said Carmen Eugene, a nurse with 25 years' experience who lives in the East. The city purchased the abandoned Methodist Hospital for $16 million in 2010. Members of the Hospital Services District for New Orleans East appearing before the committee said an urgent-care clinic would open on the Methodist site within the next 30 days. The hospital itself, though, won't reopen for a while.
Councilman Jon Johnson, who represents New Orleans East, said he did not want to wait until 2013. He is pushing for a hospital to open one year earlier. There is a little problem: money. The city is short the $30 million needed to complement the federal community block grants that will pay for repairs to the damaged property. Mayor Mitch Landrieu says opening the hospital is a priority.
Oh really? Giving people an urgent-care center as opposed to a full-functioning hospital is like opening a check-cashing place instead of a bank. Communities of color, particularly those that have survived natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, deserve more than a quick fix to a protracted problem. A hospital would help serve not only the community's medical needs but also its economic needs by creating jobs.
Poor people don't stand a chance in New Orleans. Those in charge and in power don't seem to ever get it right when it comes to poor folks — particularly within a reasonable time frame. Shaking our heads over here at The Root.
Read more at WWLTV.com.
In other news: Don Lemon Talks, 74-Year-Old Woman Breaks Bodybuilding World Record and More.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.