End Notes
After Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, Malik Rahima and Sharon Johnson, community activists, made a call for emergency medics to run a first aid station and help develop a permanent health clinic in their Algiers neighborhood. The section of the community that the clinic is in has been under-served by accessible health care for years, with only a functioning maternal/newborn clinic.
Responding volunteers formed the Common Ground Collective. A first aid station was set up on September 9, 2005 in a mosque donated to the collective and doctors, nurses, herbalists, and massage therapists began to arrive. The first aid station became a functioning clinic, operating morning to night every day with house calls and setting up temporary satellite clinics in a church and in wards in New Orleans.
The people at Common Ground are dedicated to making the clinic a professional and effective primary care provider and to offering free treatment along with free supplies like vitamins, baby food, and health and hygiene goods. They are guided by several principles: holistic community health — providing professional and free care; democracy and solidarity — by answering to the community’s needs; and making major operating decisions by consensus when possible.
Herbal consultations are just one of the many services offered by the clinic. In addition to consultations, the clinic also offers herbal education to the community. A class that meets weekly has made herbal preparations, learned about local plants, and is growing an herb garden. The clinic is always looking for volunteer herbalists, and they have an herbalist’s wish list that you can help fulfill by donating any of the needed items.
Supporting grassroots organizations like the Common Ground Health Clinic is just one way you can contribute to the “greater good” in this lifetime. Click here to learn more about the clinic and its herbalism initiatives.
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