12.04.2007

The Street Samaritans: Post-Katrina volunteer medics on bicycles created a new model of community health care in New Orleans

In the days after Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, the city’s Algiers neighborhood was one of the few that stayed dry. Still, Algiers was left without electric power or running water for many days, and the invasion of the city by thousands of soldiers, federal police officers and private paramilitary personnel created an atmosphere of tension and trepidation.

Then one morning four days into the storm, something happened that melted the fear and eased the tension.