Gearing up for a service-oriented semester: Common Ground Health Clinic

The office for staff and health-care providers operates out of
"The Yellow House" a few doors down from the clinic.

I started out the month of January figuring out a way that I could volunteer every week in a variety of ways that will help me explore my own interests and skills, while meeting various community members in the city. The first orientation I attended on January 7th was at the Common Ground Health Clinic (CGHC) in Algiers. I had made contact with one of the volunteer coordinators in December, and she encouraged me to stop by and fill out some documentation, take a look around the clinic, and meet other volunteers and staff. Conveniently I can hop on the bus to Algiers a block away from my apartment, and I eagerly watched as we made the brand-new trip (for me) across the river to the West Bank.

This is the front of the actual clinic, on the
of Teche and Socrates.

CGHC is a small, community-based clinic that opened up in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. It initially functioned seven days a week, helping out community members that were not receiving the necessary help from FEMA and the City of New Orleans. Healthcare providers from all over the country came to volunteer at this makeshift operation that ran out of a mosque across from the current clinic. The providers at CGHC quickly realized, however, that the majority of the patients were suffering from long-standing chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. As people started recovering from Katrina, the clinic transitioned into a free primary health clinic serving mostly adults. When I asked one of the staff who the clinic mostly sees, she said that about 50% of the patients come from around Algiers, and the other 50% come from all over New Orleans and surrounding parishes. Currently the clinic operates 4 days a week on a sliding-scale system (patients pay a small fee based on their income) and is very active in the local community.

At the orientation I was able to meet with Desiree (the outreach coordinator), as well as some of the other staff members who handle everything from billing to funding, restarting LHOP (the Latino Health Outreach Project) to hiring nurses and doctors. Desiree met with myself and three other volunteers from various backgrounds. While most of my time was spent filling out documents and going through a HIPAA powerpoint and quiz, Desiree did talk to us about the different work with which we can become involved. Because medical students from Tulane come out to volunteer in the clinic, most other volunteers are involved in the outreach side of CGHC, which is perfectly fine with me! When I apply to medical schools this summer, I definitely want to look into MD/MPH programs as well. This desire to explore public health didn't really happen for me until late into college; I would really like to volunteer with organizations that have a public and community health focus now, so that I can have a firmer grasp on what it means to be involved in real public health work.

More specifically, I looked into the CGHC because I'm really interested in the ways that they achieve this particular aspect of their mission statement: "We continue to advocate for increased access to healthcare services for all individuals. In order to do this, we must address all forms of injustice, including racism, sexism and homophobia. This includes addressing societal factors such as disproportionate numbers of people of color in the criminal justice system, and unequal access to quality housing, education, food and healthcare." As an undergraduate I definitely had the opportunity to learn about healthcare disparities that are based on different systems of privilege, but I have not yet been able to get involved in a clinic that works to address these through its services. Attending this orientation and meeting every-day people who have committed their lives to this type of work was so incredibly inspiring!

It was really interesting and exciting to hear Desiree talk about the different projects that are going on right now and that the CGHC needs help with. They often attend health fairs to hand out resource guides and meet with prospective patients. Additionally they plan events for the Algiers community, which includes free weekly women's classes, monthly events on herbalism and alternative medicine, and the development of a new community garden. They are also planning to host a teach-in at the local prison, put together a conference/forum on the changes in healthcare funding (for community members and other community clinics to attend), and host the 2nd Algiers cultural day. Overall I am so excited to spend a few hours each week helping out at the CGHC and to take on an event to plan myself.