Public Health at it's Best

Linda Carlson readies the totes for deployment.

The drive to return home is strong - yet many aren't sure what homes they'll be able to return to.

One of our big goals, beyond refilling medications and assessing acute medical and mental health needs is to prevent outbreaks of infection. To date, we have given out many many doses of hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and tetanus. There have been rumors of a few undocumented cases of possible hepatitis A in one of the parishes which has made the project all the more urgent.

Most of the patients we see come from New Orleans proper and the surrounding parishes. An injury can result in tetanus if your vaccinations aren't up to date. Contaminated water - such as when all of the sewers flooded can hasten the spread of hepatitis A. As it is, we're seeing some series of diarrheal illness - probably Norwalk virus - spread by poor sanitation and many people crowded together, such as in the Cajun dome.