Surgeons pitch in to turn former Catholic school into health clinic

Published: 2007-10-24

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Dr. David Knight normally treats his hands with tender loving care because they are the pampered instruments of his livelihood. But the general surgeon from Waterbury, Conn., had to take a break recently when a fellow surgeon saw the blisters on his right hand, cleaned the small wound and wrapped his hand in a gauze bandage. The surgeons were not in a hospital but in the former St. Cecilia School in New Orleans, which is being converted into a neighborhood health clinic run by the Daughters of Charity. Knight and about 175 other general surgeons were in New Orleans Oct. 7-11 to attend the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. They gave up portions of two days to clear out the school, ripping out ceiling tiles and flooring to ready the structure for what will become a 7,200-square-foot community health clinic with the capacity to accommodate 500 clients per month. The surgeons called it "Operation Giving Back."

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