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Hurricane Katrina was a social and public health disaster.1 From the perspectives of health care systems, the environment, community health, and everything in between, Katrina devastated New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast. In the 15 years since the storm, we have learned much about how devastating natural disasters can be for a community and how many ways public health can be involved in creating opportunities for recovery and preparing for the next disaster. Some of the lessons that we learned and that we need to learn are touched on in this special section.
Hurricane Katrina devastated the public health and health care systems across the US Gulf Coast and exposed the health and racial inequities that have persisted among this community for decades. As Kim-Farley notes (p. 1448), we are reaping what we sow. Individuals and families were affected emotionally, physically, and spiritually because of this disaster. Hurricane Katrina exacerbated the community's health problems and exposed the fragmentation in care. Despite this, individuals in the community came together to mobilize and organize and to identify solutions to transform how health care was delivered to the community while ensuring health and racial equity. Over time, social norms evolved-shifting from residents accessing care in emergency departments to residents going to community-based health care provider organizations that offered comprehensive and holistic health and wellness services, including mental health and substance abuse disorder treatment.
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS
Three contributions to this special section discuss the impact of Hurricane Katrina on individuals' health and on health care systems. "Hurricane Katrina beat us. We lost the ability to communicate, transport by land and air, and provide health care for the population," writes Honore (p. 1463). In this piece, Honore highlights the inequities that were exposed and lessons from his experience as the commander of Joint Task Force-Katrina. Honore provides a timely invitation to readers to confront injustices and improve preparedness and response to natural disasters amid COVID-19.
Harville et al. (p. 1466) explore the trends in pregnancy outcomes in women residing in the US Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina and consider whether women had an increase in adverse pregnancy outcomes because of the disaster. Katrina put a spotlight on the need for a major transformation of public health...