POST HURRICANE – THE CRISIS | I was in Louisiana 2 months after Hurricane Katrina. The state was experiencing a public health crisis that hadn’t received much press compared to the political back-and-forth between the Feds, state and local officials in the news shows and in the late night comedy shows.

In that emergency state conference with over 30 hospital CEOs from across the state, I came upon the idea on how to change the country’s ailing health system.

“You’re the one from New York, aren’t you?” a woman in her mid-fifties asked me at the table. “Is it that obvious?” I asked. “Not really, it wasn’t the pin-stripe suit, darlin’. We just now all these fools, love.” she smiled back.

She asked me where I lived and I told her that the family lived in Houston to enable Kelly’s treatment at MD Anderson. She and I would end up talking for the next 3 hours. A 15-year survivor from metastatic breast and lung cancer and also a former MD Anderson patient, she would demonstrate the immediate bond that all people whom the disease has affected. “Friends for Life” Kelly and I would say of the bond cancer fighters share.

As I headed west back to Houston that night, I can see all the debris from Katrina still lining the sides of I-10 connecting Louisiana and Texas. I kept thinking to myself how that lady showing up in my table was a godsend. It would have been a very un-productive trip had she not appeared. She had personally introduced me to all the CEOs she knew at the conference. I tried to remember our last conversation as I drove home nearing midnight.

“I’m glad you’re doing what you plan of doing, Kyle. The country doesn’t understand how many people died here, how Katrina brought this region’s health system in shambles. For crying out loud, one of the association executives basically hijacked a group of Apache helicopters just to get patients off rooftops after waiting there for hours. You have to do this. We all need to scrap what we have and start over in how this country cares for its sick.

Your wife needs this system to change.”

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If you have 4 minutes, watch the clip below. It’s one of the most representative pieces I have seen on prime-time TV on the dramatic tragedy brought upon by Katrina.

The real-life physician was acquitted as well.

James Spader | Hurricane Katrina