Evidence-Based Design for Healthcare in Post-Katrina New Orleans: Current Dilemmas

Abstract

New Orleans continues to struggle to rebuild from the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. More than 1,800 perished in its aftermath. Katrina stands as the costliest catastrophe in U.S. history, and the city's healthcare infrastructure is similarly striving to resuscitate itself. The incorporation of evidence-based design and research (EBD&R) in the reconstitution of the city's healthcare infrastructure offers a promising direction to improve healthcare outcomes. Recent efforts to incorporate EBD&R in New Orleans' recovery are summarized. EBD&R interventions are needed that take certain key dilemmas into consideration—embracing the adaptive reuse possibilities of historic healthcare facilities, private-public sector collaborations in acute care and in neighborhood-based outpatient care environments, and interventions to serve the city's growing population of medically underserved residents.

Keywords

Evidence-based design adaptive reuse historic healthcare facilities private-public sector collaborations acute care neighborhood-based outpatient care Hurricane Katrina

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