Common Ground Health Clinic

The Common Ground Health Clinic is a non-profit organization that provides health care in Algiers and Gretna, Louisiana. Common Ground Health Clinic provides programs to address community health care needs through collaborative partnerships. The clinic started on September 9, 2005, just days after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

Common Ground Health Clinic had its beginnings when four young street medics showed up in Algiers a few days after the hurricane. They began riding around on bicycles asking residents if they needed medical attention. Locals were apparently surprised to be approached in this way, since no representatives of government agencies or of the Red Cross had appeared up to that point. The medics offered first aid, took blood pressure, tested for diabetes, and asked about symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other disease.

The clinic was originally set up in a mosque, the Masjid Bilal. Nurses, physicians, herbalists, acupuncturists, EMTs, social workers and community activists came from around the world to volunteer at Common Ground Health Clinic.