Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast is an album which presents songs recorded in September and October 2005, shortly after the failure of misdesigned levees flooded New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (see: "Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans") With the destruction of their hometown fresh in their minds, New Orleans artists set about making music that directly acknowledges the city. Funds from the sale of the record is donated to Habitat For Humanity to aid those affected by the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans area hospitals that were flooded or damaged. Reports from the Methodist Hospital indicated that people were dying of dehydration and exhaustion while the staff worked unendingly in horrendous conditions. The first floor of the hospital flooded and the dead were stacked in a second floor operating room. Patients requiring ventilators were kept alive with hand-powered resuscitation bags. Among the many hospitals shut down by damage related to the hurricane was the public hospital serving New Orleans, Charity Hospital, which was also the only trauma center serving that region. The destruction of the hospital's structure has forced the continued closure as