Few of us have forgotten the searing images of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, especially how the great American City of New Orleans was left in shambles—a testament to longstanding social and economic problems that preceded the storm and a nation that was unprepared after it occurred.
In the decade that followed Katrina—one that included the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history—recovery across the region has varied, but there have been several success stories. For example, New Orleans, that soulful town, overhauled its health and public health systems, improved access to nutritious food and fitness activities, and put new emphasis on issues of equity and poverty. The work is far from done, but the transformation was sufficient to earn aCulture of Health Prize from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2013.
Advancing the Science of Healthy Communities
We urgently need to understand the confluence of factors that helps communities of all sizes to recover and thrive. Throughout the Gulf region, communities large and small have come together to tackle adversity in its many forms—environmental disasters, to be sure, but also violence, chronic poverty and other traumas. The nation could learn from their efforts about what nurtures resilience—that is, the capacity to prepare for, withstand and recover from acute and chronic adversity and emerge stronger than ever.
[For more of this story, written by Tracy Costigan, go to http://www.rwjf.org/en/culture..._s_the_formulaf.html]
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