In an area largely lacking medical facilities since Katrina, the new center is part of an effort to revitalize the neighborhood.   Nearby stands a massive empty structure with the remaining “ODIST HOSPITAL” still clings to the wall facing the street.  The city and Methodist Hospital are still negotiating but there is still no official date for reopening.

 On the facility’s first day alone, at least 20 New Orleans East residents, including the elderly and pregnant, arrived to make appointments, said Champion’s family nurse practitioner, Cynthia Kudj.

 Kudj said she met Champion Medical’s founder, Gregory Davis, through a colleague.  She said she joined Champion center to help the community.

 ”There is a lack of health care service out here,” she said. There is no alternative for any other health care facility.”

 The center is still working out its business structure and how its patients can efficiently cover costs.  According to Connie Perkins, the facility’s certified medical assistant, the center is still assessing care costs to create affordable medical assistance.

 ”If a procedure were to cost $20, we would not charge our patients 40,” said Perkins as an example of the clinic’s goal to maintain affordable health care.

 On the center’s first day, staff members assisted prospective patients with health insurance forms.  According to Kudj, the facility may soon have a social worker on staff to counsel patients on their possible eligibility for Medicaid and other aid programs.

 The center also plans to look into the possibility of participating in the 340B Drug Pricing Program, from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, which offers prescription medicine at a lower cost for safety net health care providers.

 Bonita Wilson, 42, who has lived in New Orleans East for 15 years, said the lack of health care in the area means residents have to travel   far for emergency assistance.  She said the clinic is progress, but added that what New Orleans East still needs is a   hospital.

 Davis, a former boxer who goes by the nickname “True Champ,”  said he remained optimistic about the center’s success.  He said he hoped the new facility would encourage residents to invest and rebuild the community.

 ”I’m not trying to be a hero, I just want my city back,” he said while sitting inside his new office.

Christina said she struggled with depression that intensified after Hurricane Katrina. The high school tutor said she constantly battled thoughts of suicide.

“I thought about it because I couldn’t control my life,” said Christina, who chose to withhold her last name because of the nature of her story.

Friends and family have helped Christina cope. But she said there are days when she wakes up saying to herself, “Oh, why couldn’t I have just died in my sleep.”

From the beginning of the year to date, there have been 24 suicides in New Orleans. One occurred Tuesday, when a man jumped off the Crescent City Connection Bridge.

From 2006 to 2008 the number of suicides jumped to 42, from 14. “We have a crisis,” said Dr. Jullette Saussy, the emergency medical services director for New Orleans.

Psychiatrist James Barbee said, “Post-traumatic stress often gets worse in the third to fifth year following the event.”

“The stress level is still quite high in the city,” said Barbee, the director for the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Clinic in New Orleans and a professor at Louisiana State University.

But the number of available mental health clinicians, facilities and services to deal with the high level of post traumatic stress and depression remains scarce.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave Louisiana a “D,” citing an urgent need to finance mental health services under Medicaid; to expand crisis, inpatient, and community services; and to address the mental health workforce shortage.

Three years ago, the state received the same grade for a lack of mental health infrastructure, lack of patient information access and portability, and a low per capita mental health expenditure of $51.34 for a population of more than 4.4 million.

This compares unfavorably to Connecticut, which received a “B” grade because its per capita mental health spending was $151.03 for a population of more than 3.5 million. Louisiana’s total mental health care spending was $2.3 million, while Connecticut’s was $5.25 million.

The city is currently facing more than a $2 billion deficit, and, adding to an already crumbling mental health infrastructure, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced earlier this year his plans to close the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, the only public mental health facility in the city that treats juveniles. Children’s Hospital, also in New Orleans, is private.

In December 2007, Mental Health Weekly reported that more than 45,000 children were experiencing mental health issues resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

Psychiatrist Mordecai Potash, a professor at Tulane University, who has an inpatient and outpatient practice in the city, reported that because of the lack of facilities, many chronically mentally ill individuals were placed in Orleans Parish Prison, making it, by default, the largest psychiatric center in the city

“The access to mental health is not very good,” Saussy said.

Potash added that symptoms of post-traumatic stress persist if left untreated. Symptoms include bad dreams, fear and the inability to stop thinking about the event, according to HelpGuide.org, a nonprofit Web site that helps people “understand, prevent and resolve life’s challenges.”

Retired judge Calvin Johnson, executive director of the Metropolitan Human Services District, said he still has dreams about the bodies he saw floating in the water as he was going back to the Criminal Court building on Tulane Avenue to assist with the evacuation effort during Katrina.

The people on the bridge and interstate who begged Johnson for help still creep into his dreams. According to Johnson, one haunting image is of people he saw as he rode through a city underwater. He couldn’t help. The truck he was in was full and he gave away all of the water he had.

“All those are memories that live with me,” Johnson said.

Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder may take weeks, months and even years to develop, according to HelpGuide.org. Symptoms can occur immediately or gradually and may come and go. Post-traumatic stress disorder may be triggered by a reminder such as a noise, smell, words and an image.

In the case of Hurricane Katrina, four years later many New Orleanians are constantly reminded of that dreadful day when they step outside of their homes.

Potash said that people are “re-experiencing visual cues.”

“There are parts I used to go to pre-Katrina, but I don’t go there now,” said Potash. “There is nothing but destruction. I don’t need to be reminded. Some areas look like it just happened yesterday.”

Every day people walk or drive past the skeleton of vacant houses and businesses bearing an X, revealing the date the home was searched, who checked it and the number of bodies found.

“Recovery is slow,” said Saussy. “People are left in a limbo type of position.”

HelpGuide.org and research by Potash also revealed that post-traumatic stress disorder affected emergency workers and law enforcement officers.

Officers who experienced the chaos firsthand had to combat post-traumatic stress and take the place of mental health practitioners and counselors. Every month police officers were transporting 185 to 200 mental health patients to hospitals. Today, the New Orleans Police Department has a crisis unit that consists of volunteers who aid in the transportation of people with mental illnesses.

“Katrina has been a major factor in exposing a serious mental health problem in New Orleans,” said criminologist John Penny, a professor at Southern University of New Orleans.

Penny said that depression is a major issue in the city, and that suicide homicides are increasing as well. The rise in “angry outbursts, murders and substance abuse,” Penny said, are “compounded problems brought on by the lack of treatment facilities.”

The system has been “disabled,” Barbee said, but he has been able to treat everyone.

Potash has a sliding scale fee in his outpatient practice, and he tries to assist patients with Medicaid. But he said there is an urgent need for inpatient facilities.

David Gavlinski, an aide to City Councilwoman Shelly Midura, said that if the community fights to keep the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital open then the state government will cut the Assertive Community Treatment and the Forensic Assertive Community Treatment programs. Both programs have 100 beds for the “most vulnerable.” Gaylinski said there is a need for all facilities.

“Our area needs to make mental health education and treatment a high priority,” said Penny. “It needs to be at the forefront of any endeavor we undertake.”

Last year was the first time Christina saw a counselor for her depression. Every day had been a struggle, she said, but “through encouragement from friends, I manage to tame the thoughts.” Although times can be hard, Christina said, she knows there is “still something special” waiting for her.

“I’ve been given another day, and I should cherish it for the betterment of others,” said Christina. “It’s not about me. It’s the circle of life, and albeit we travel different paths and potholes, we write our own stories. And I want mine to have a happy ending.”

Dissatisfied with the long-distance drive and the service he received, Davis took action and created his own health care facility.

Located next to Methodist Hospital, which closed after Hurricane Katrina, the Champion Medical Center and Urgent Care at 9890 Lake Forest Blvd. will begin accepting patients on Tuesday. 

“This area needs a place with staff that isn’t overworked and underpaid,” said Davis, a former boxer and now the chief executive director of the facility. “We need doctors who care about the community and not just working for a paycheck.”

 Davis named the Champion Medical Center for his own nickname during his boxing days, “True Champ.” The 1,600-square-foot facility, which cost about $250,000, will be staffed with a pediatrician, family practitioner, nurse practitioner, medical assistant, doctor of internal medicine and physical therapist.

He said that the center would accept all patients regardless of their financial situation and would charge “the lowest cost possible” and would “work with patients” on their payments. 

“The benefits of the center’s opening are seeing people feeling comfortable reinvesting in the area’s properties and communities,” said state Rep. Ann Duplessis, who represents District 2, which includes New Orleans East. “This facility will enhance the area.”  

Duplessis praised Davis, who grew up on the streets of Chicago.

 ”I’m really proud of him,” she said. “He is using his resources to do good things in the community.  I like to say he is ‘Doing good for the hood.’”

Davis said he plans to eventually open a pharmacy in the New Orleans East area.  He said he does not question the center’s ability to sustain itself, saying that he has spoken to many New Orleans East residents who are ready to be  Champion’s  patients. 

State Rep. Austin Badon is also supporting the new health care center. 

“Residents have to drive downtown or uptown to get the health care they need,” Badon said.  “This should not be. I applaud Gregory Davis for addressing this need in the community.  People need affordable and available health care.”

The Louisiana House voted unanimously on Monday to approve a bill proposed by Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, to  transfer ownership of the current medical center, which also is known as the Interim LSU Public Hospital, to a nonprofit group that will be formed.

But a spokesman for the LSU System said LSU believes the proposal can be blocked in the state Senate.

Under the House bill, the LSU Public Hospital  - the temporary replacement for Charity Hospital,  which was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 – would be owned by an independent board of seven trustees unaffiliated with any academic institution. The board would include members appointed by the governor and members of the House and Senate.

The bill also calls for  a board of directors made up of five representatives, one each from LSU, Tulane University, Xavier University, Dillard University and Delgado Community College, along with four other members with expertise in finance, medicine, health care management or other professionals.

“Be it medical education, be it indigent care, or be it research,”  Tucker said, “all five institutions play a role in those three areas of service throughout the hospital” Creating a nonprofit board  ”gives those five players a reason to participate in the process and a reason to make sure that they’re a success at the university hospital.”

Tucker said it is not his intention to completely separate LSU from the medical center’s operations. However, he said the bill puts the management of the hospital  in the hands of a professional hospital manager.

 ”I want LSU to focus on medical education, focus on research, and not have to worry about changing light bulbs and waxing floors. I think that is something for professional management to do and I think it can be done much better,” he said.

Pending a successful readiness assessment, which is designed to make sure that the new entity is prepared to take over the operation’s assets, the medical center would be under new control effective Jan. 1, 2010.

This bill comes as LSU is planning to construct the Louisiana State University Academic Medical Center, a $1.2 billion medical facility to replace the Interim LSU Public Hospital. Construction is set to begin in 2010.

 According to an open letter written by the LSU system’s president, Dr. John Lombardi, before the bill passed in the House, LSU intends to employ a similar nonprofit plan under its control if it retains control of the  new facility. Under the LSU plan, the board of  directors would consist of 11 members, 5 of whom would be appointed by the president of the LSU system. The presidents of Xavier and Tulane universities would each hold a position, and another position would be jointly appointed by the presidents of Dillard University and Delgado Community College.

“Central to LSU’s not-for-profit, private-style governance plan for the new Academic Medical Center in New Orleans is minimizing politics and governmental inefficiency,” Lombardi wrote.

Dr. Charles Zewe, an LSU System spokesman, said  implementation of the House bill  would dramatically slow construction of the new hospital, among other things.

It will make the hospital “politically subservient and continue a wasteful and ineffectual operation of a medical enterprise that has been plagued by overspending, overstaffing and inefficient operations for a very long time,” he said.

The next step is for the bill to be voted on in the Senate, which Zewe said is “more familiar with the dynamics of health care in Louisiana.” He said LSU has  already begun one-on-one conversations with senators to plead its case.

“You never say that anything is certain in any legislative body until you count votes, but we appear to be getting a receptive audience for our case,” Zewe said. “Real people are suffering, not politicians, and that’s what we have an eye on, taking care of people.”

The New Orleans BioInnovation Center, a collaboration of public and private interests focused on providing jobs and funding for life science and biotechnology companies, launched the “Bio Boom 2009″ campaign to target prospective employees for its core project, the building of the Greater New Orleans Bioscience Economic Development District. The Louisiana Department of Economic Development is sponsoring the campaign, which this week sent scientists, researchers, and economic development leaders from the region to the 2009 Bio International Convention in Atlanta to recruit workers to the Big Easy.

“Labor workforce shortages were a huge problem before Hurricane Katrina hit,” said Aaron Miscenich, the executive director of the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. “In its aftermath, there is an even greater need because the research base has dropped and the city has lost researchers to other markets.”

A federal grant made it possible to develop the new medical district, which will include two hospitals, a cancer research center and a research innovation center, called a wet lab incubator. The additions have allowed  the biotechnology industry to expand beyond what it was before the hurricane, and has provided even more opportunities for jobs in research and innovation: The health care industry has become the largest employer in the region, with salaries averaging as high as $90,000 annually, according to the Regional Planning Commission.

“We have a thriving economy considering the recession because of the spending we are doing,” said Miscenich. “The city will be spending $2 billion over the next few years on our clinical facilities. We want people to take notice and come work with us.”

Miscenich said the center has continuously encountered potential employees who are reluctant to consider relocating to New Orleans for work because they have been influenced by the devastation of the hurricane.  ”We want to show that New Orleans is no longer in recovery,” he said. “This region has the hottest economy right now considering the recession.”

As part of the federal grant, the planning commission created the New Orleans Regional Bioscience Initiative to coordinate the new medical facilities with the existing medical district.

“We recognize how necessary the medical industry is to this city,” said Caitlin Cain, director of economic development for the commission. “The goal of the district has been to develop improved medical technology, services and drugs that would lead to new businesses and jobs in the local area.”

Cain said the medical district will be able to attract future workers to the region, which would provide a $3 billion economic boon to New Orleans.

“Our state-of-the-art facilities attract the demographic that New Orleans desperately needs, a younger generation who is comfortable with the technology and people with experience in the field who can adapt,” she said.

The first of the clinical facilities to open, by the end of 2010,  will be the $45 million wet-lab incubator on Canal Street.  The 66,000-square-foot structure, smaller than the original design prior to Hurricane Katrina, has been constructed to house life science and biotechnology companies with laboratory space to develop products for human trials.

Also being built is a $102 million, 175,000-square-foot Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium, on Tulane Avenue. This facility will provide opportunities for New Orleans’ medical universities to collaborate in their research and development of innovative cancer treatment and therapy programs. And two additional hospitals, a Veteran Affairs  hospital and Louisiana State University academic teaching hospital, also are being constructed in the district. All of these facilities are expected to open in 2010.

“The investments being made in the clinical expansion is a necessary component in providing world class health care and medical training,” Cain said. “Biosciences provide New Orleans with the competitive advantages that can compete with other biomedical facilities across the state, national, and global stage.”