September 27, 2007
Contact: Robin Winchell (202)
225-4031
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Charlie
Melancon (D -LA) announced today that
the St. Bernard Health Center in Chalmette
would receive a $719,849 federal grant to support and expand the clinic's
operations. In August, Rep. Melancon brought a delegation of 14 members
of Congress, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Majority Whip
James Clyburn, to tour the St. Bernard Health Center. The delegation met
with doctors, nurses, patients and administrators to discuss the clinic's role
in providing healthcare to the parish since the 2005 storms and highlight the
need for additional federal funding to support its services.
"The St. Bernard Health Center
has valiantly worked to fill the healthcare void left in the parish after
Katrina, and I am very pleased they will be receiving more support from the
federal government for their efforts," Rep.
Melancon said."
Rep. Melancon continued, "Since
the start of the new Congress, there has been a renewed focus on standing up
healthcare in hurricane-affected communities of south Louisiana, and this grant is in large part
the fruit of our labors. I am grateful to the Democratic leadership and
the Energy and Commerce Committee for holding the Administration's feet to the
fire on releasing more funding for rebuilding the healthcare network in south Louisiana. We will
continue partnering with the doctors, nurses, and healthcare administrators who
are trying to provide for this most fundamental need in communities that saw
their hospitals and clinics devastated by the storms."
After Hurricane Katrina destroyed St. Bernard Parish's only
hospital, local doctors and healthcare workers opened the St. Bernard Health
Center to provide basic healthcare to the people of the parish. Since the
storm, this temporary clinic has been housed in a series of trailers located
next to the WalMart
SuperCenter on W. Judge Perez Drive
and provides primary care for residents of the parish.
Rep. Melancon has worked to
bring Congressional attention to the desperate state of health care in south Louisiana following
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At his urging, the House Energy and Commerce
Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee - which Rep. Melancon
vice chairs - held a hearing in March on post-storm health care conditions and
heard directly from health care providers and administrators in south
Louisiana. Dr. Bryan Bertucci, a family physician at the St. Bernard
Health Center and the Coroner of St. Bernard Parish, testified before the
subcommittee about healthcare conditions in the parish (read his testimony
here: http://energycommerce.house.gov/cmte_mtgs/110-oi-hrg.031307.Bertucci-Testimony.pdf).
Dr. Bertucci also met with the Congressional Delegation during their August
visit.
Following the March hearing, and as a result of ongoing
pressure from the Committee, in May the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services announced it would release almost $200 million to the Gulf Coast
for primary care healthcare services. The grants are funded through the
Deficit Reduction Act, which provides the HHS Secretary with the authority to
make payments to states to restore access to health care in communities
impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Of the $200 million provided for primary healthcare services
along the Gulf Coast, $100 million is dedicated to
expanding access to primary care in the Greater New Orleans area. The funding,
which today's grant to St. Bernard Health Center is one of the first awards
from, will go to certain non-profit and public health care clinics in the parishes
of Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines. The funding will be
used to expand access to outpatient primary care, including medical and mental
health services, substance abuse treatment, oral health care and optometric
care, with a goal of decreasing the reliance on
emergency room usage for primary care services by Medicaid and those people
without insurance or who are under-insured.
The funding will be awarded and distributed through the Primary Care Access and Stabilization Grant program and
will be administered by the Louisiana Public Health Institute, serving as the
local partner of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
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