Tulane Community Health Center at Covenant House is dedicated to improving the health of our New Orleans neighbors by providing continuous high-quality, holistic, accessible, community-centric care.
The catastrophic flooding associated with Hurricane Katrina decimated the health care infrastructure of the city. In this extreme environment, a group of Tulane physicians came together to deliver care in New Orleans to first responders and the citizens of the city who remained behind or returned early. They practiced in tents, in shelters, in police precincts and in mobile vans – wherever they were needed.
The destruction of the traditional structures and models of care delivery enabled the development of decentralized care that focused on prevention and health promotion. Tulane University Community Health Center at Covenant House developed in this crisis time to serve the population of New Orleans and has continued with a focus on the underserved and uninsured. The founders of the health center continue their vision of delivering health care that focuses on the patients needs outside of the confines that come with typical paradigms of ambulatory care.
One of the 6 sites created during the immediate crisis that followed Katrina was at Covenant House. It began simply as a willing doctor, a card table, a box of supplies, and an ice chest to keep the tetanus vaccines cold. Since opening on September 12, 2005, nearly 7000 patients have been served. Patients served represent a broad demographic of low-income wage earners, chronically ill, disabled and homeless.
Over the months, a long-term partnership between Covenant House, Johnson & Johnson and Tulane University developed to sustain the clinic operation to and to allow creation of a prototype health center of the future. This health center will provide health care woven into the fabric of a community center that provides an array of services aimed at the broad needs of the neighborhood such as daycare and education. The care is provided by a medical team who serves as a person’s single point of entry into the health system and will help ensure that every patient receives quality-driven, person-centered care.
