Allegro

Health Care for New Orleans Musicians

Volume CV, No. 11November, 2005

LEGAL HELP, TOO

Gulf Coast musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina can receive free legal help through Reed Elsevier. The publisher can help with employment contracts, commercial agreements, copyright issues, general advice as well as help with negotiations. To apply, musicians should call Recording Vice President Bill Dennison at (212) 245-4802, ext. 110. This service is co-sponsored by the Jazz Foundation and Local 802.

If you’re a displaced New Orleans musician living in New York, there’s some hope for health care. The Actors’ Fund and the New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC) are helping New Orleans musicians who have relocated to the New York area following Hurricane Katrina. The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic will be the New York satellite facility of the NOMC.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the NOMC served more than 1,000 musicians and their families. Since Katrina the musicians’ clinic has been operating from the offices of its sister clinic in Lafayette. The staff of NOMC has been tracking New Orleans musicians scattered across the country. So far over 60 of their patients have relocated to the New York City area. The Actors’ Fund, through its Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, has opened its doors to these musicians in the New York City area who are in need of care.

The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic provides free health care to uninsured and underinsured entertainment professionals in the New York City area, including primary and specialty care, health screenings and education. It’s open five days a week, offers 24-hour on-call service and is staffed with a full-time family physician. The clinic is associated with the Center for Family Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.

Musicians wishing to make an appointment or get more information should contact the Hirschfeld Clinic at (212) 489-1939. Be sure to say if you are a displaced New Orleans musician.