News Release

Local angles: Atlanta; New Orleans;
Oxford, Miss.; Nashville, Tenn.

June 9 broadcast to explore rebuilding
of New Orleans’ public health system

CHAPEL HILL — New Orleans’ opportunity to rebuild its health care system using new tools, knowledge and standards will be the subject of a live broadcast Friday (June 9) via the World Wide Web and a satellite downlink.

“After Katrina: Building a Better Public Health System for the Future” will air from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. as the next broadcast in the Public Health Grand Rounds series, produced by the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. For details on how to participate, visit www.publichealthgrandrounds.unc.edu.

The program will include video and interviews from New Orleans and live discussion by experts on the UNC and CDC campuses. Viewers may e-mail questions to the panel and participate in an online forum that follows each Public Health Grand Rounds broadcast.

“New Orleans’ leadership realized that, with all their major hospitals flooded and all their systems down, they faced a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to build their system right ... literally from the ground up,” said Dr. Hugh Tilson, clinical professor of epidemiology and health policy at the UNC School of Public Health and a participant in the program’s development.

“As seen through the eyes of over a dozen community leaders we interviewed about this amazing and challenging experience, this case study will provide vital lessons for everyone,” he said. “It’s not just about Katrina ... but about the very roots of public health.”

Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicine, vice chancellor for medical affairs and chief executive officer of UNC Health Care, will moderate the live broadcast. Roper, a former CDC director, launched the Public Health Grand Rounds series in 1999 while dean of the UNC School of Public Health. Joining Tilson on an expert panel will be:

• Dr. Kaye Bender, RN, dean and professor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s School of Nursing in Oxford;
• Dr. Stephanie Zaza, strategy and innovation officer in the CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response; and
• Dr. Stephanie Bailey, director of the Metro Nashville Public Health Department.

Tilson and series producer Donna Davis, also of the UNC School of Public Health, visited New Orleans in April with videographer Jim Cando to capture the story of the re-design of New Orleans’ public health and health care systems.

Bender said that given the difficulty of the task, the tendency might be to simply duplicate previous frameworks. But, she added: “We need to remember that we now have excellent resources that allow us to move forward quickly … What an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade .... what if we could actually demonstrate (that) all these wonderful tools, applied together, worked to ensure a stronger public health system for the future?”

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School of Public Health contacts: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, rjdubose@email.unc.edu; Bev Holt, (919) 966-6274, bev_holt@unc.edu
News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595