The pandemic has worsened mental health vulnerabilities by exacerbating pre-existing racial inequities in healthcare. Black therapists are stepping in to close the gap.
Solution Hub
Solution Hub: New Orleans actively releases videos of police shootings. Is it paying off with trust?
Since 2016, the NOPD, at one time among the most brutal and corrupt police forces in the country, has quickly and proactively released camera footage of police shootings and other critical incidents. The logic of the policy is simple: The videos are there for clarity, and transparency is the cornerstone of building community trust.
11 min read
Speaking their language: How NOLA advocates connected Spanish speakers to healthcare during the pandemic
It’s no surprise most of Louisiana’s Spanish speaking community fell through the cracks, but coronavirus showed just how big those cracks are and what it’s going to take to mend them.
13 min read
Hanging on: Covid gave Louisiana’s addiction patients life-saving drug treatment by phone
During the pandemic, treatment with buprenorphine became available by phone. And that could be a difference maker in the opioid epidemic.
14 min read
Calling home: Sheltering in hotels to escape coronavirus, Acadiana’s homeless got back on their feet
While coronavirus raged, hundreds found their way to hotels where case managers could connect them with food, doctors and income, often for the first time.
10 min read
LIFELINE: 211 calls reveal Covid-19’s impact on Louisiana
Acadiana’s 211 call data from March to September show the crippling effects of the coronavirus pandemic on South Louisiana and the diversity of its disaster response.
2 min read
Right Call: How phones became Louisiana’s healthcare lifeline during the coronavirus pandemic
We set out to document how coronavirus and the state’s lockdowns affected access to healthcare. What we found were people working the phones to keep Louisiana connected, safe and healthy in ways that offer lessons beyond the pandemic. Our series, Lifeline: Covid tells their story.
6 min read
Calls to action: How 211 became an instant link to health and social services during the pandemic
211 live call specialists connected thousands of residents to health and social services via the system’s vast network of providers. And fed key info to those raising levees against the flood of unmet needs.
12 min read
Louisiana production crews, left gigless by the pandemic, are rebuilding hurricane-ravaged Lake Charles
Stage hands have been among the obscured economic casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several local crews are now finding a home in helping with the logistics of rebuilding disaster-stricken Lake Charles.
9 min read
One creative solution for Lafayette’s pandemic school year: learning pods with art teachers
Even with the school year pushing the start date back to Sept. 8, parents are backed into a difficult corner: Send your child back to school and risk getting sick or keep them at home for online learning and face an entirely different host of challenges. Local performing arts organization Wonderland Performing Arts has developed a potential solution: learning pods.
3 min read
Louisiana cities are doing what they can to both save small businesses and keep people in their homes
Strapped for cash, some Louisiana cities are working to balance the needs of businesses and housing in how they use federal coronavirus relief.
14 min read
‘It’s miraculous’ — no known coronavirus cases in Acadiana’s homeless shelters
Housing advocates say it’s a testament to the swift action taken to stand up emergency housing, isolate people at risk, rearrange facilities to allow for social distancing and communicate the threat to the people they work with.
8 min read