A series exploring what’s working in Lafayette and beyond. Each story reports on responses to common problems, big or small, and how our community is getting better — or ways in which it could be.
Solution Hub
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
‘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.
COVID-19 news comes fast, furious and in English: How one woman is helping Lafayette’s Hispanic community stay informed
Cristina Martinez, an event planner and former radio show host, moonlights as a coronavirus reporter for Lafayette’s Spanish language community
Lafayette’s food economy turns to hustles old and new to stay afloat during the pandemic
Coronavirus has caused a major gap in the food economy that some local farmers and restaurateurs are hustling to fill.
With N95s in short supply, Lafayette General is sourcing disposable masks from surgical wraps
Seamstresses at New Iberia-based Action Specialties are turning out thousands of mask shields for Lafayette General’s frontline workers.
Coronavirus lockdowns and high anxiety: Has teletherapy’s moment arrived?
State regs and cultural aversion warded some counselors away from teletherapy. COVID-19 is changing that.
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.