NEW ORLEANS — You may soon see more health care clinics popping up in neighborhoods around the area.
It's part of an effort to make it easier for you to see your doctor and to help you manage chronic health conditions.
When it comes to health in Louisiana, we've long been at the bottom. So Ochsner Health announced steps to move the needle, from 49th in the country, to 40th by 2030.
Ochsner will open 15 community health centers around the state. The first and only one open right now is in New Orleans East. It's a collaboration with funds from the Brees Dream Foundation.
The clinics will tackle the many chronic conditions that make people vulnerable to severe and deadly cases of COVID-19 obesity, smoking and vaping, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
They will also address the toll cancer takes because it is found in late stages, prenatal care to prevent low birth weight babies and maternal death that hits black mothers at a much higher rate.
The mayor supports the move saying the pandemic brought to light the health disparities.
“And when COVID-19 hit us again at a deficit, has really forced, I think, all of us to not only look in the mirror, but to double down on our efforts, because it’s not just an opportunity in this moment, it is an obligation that we all have,” New Orleans May LaToya Cantrell said.
The clinics will provide continuous primary care, rather than the big expense of using the emergency room.
“Because we're going to be much more preventative. We're going to make sure that people are getting their immunizations, and make sure they're getting their screenings, and prevent disease," Ochsner Health President and CEO, Warner Thomas said.
Ochsner will also partner with Xavier University to create a Center for Health Equity to address health care access. And Ochsner created a scholarship program, committing millions of dollars for tuition for doctors who go in to primary care or psychiatry, and nursing programs.
The governor reminded citizens about immediate health steps.
“Get your flu shots. Get your flu shots. Already plan now for a Christmas and a Thanksgiving that should look different than it did last year,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
And he said there is hope for coronavirus vaccines to be distributed in 2021.
The clinics will open over the next three years in under-served areas of the state. There will be clinics locally in Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany Parishes.
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