“Charity Hospital was the lifeblood of the city of New Orleans,” Dr. John says in his trademark drawl in the trailer for the new documentary called “Big Charity: The Death of America’s Oldest Hospital” that aims to shed light on what happened to Charity during and after Hurricane Katrina, when the powers that be decided that the landmark hospital shouldn’t reopen.
From its founding in 1736 until Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans in 2005, Charity Hospital was an integral part of the city.
Designed to provide free healthcare to the poor and uninsured, Charity provided much needed services to people who couldn’t afford to go elsewhere. Scores of musicians were born at Charity, including Dr. John, Kermit Ruffins, Guitar Lightnin’ Lee, and Dale Blade.
James Booker died at Charity in 1983, Robert Parker worked as an orderly there, and countless Mardi Gras Indians, singers, dancers, artists, chefs, and other culture bearers all had ties to the hospital.
Now you have a chance to help preserve the legacy of Charity Hospital by donating to the documentary’s Kickstarter fundraising campaign, which has been a success so far, yielding nearly $40,000 from 390 backers as of May 16.
Although this has exceeded the campaign’s stated goal of $36,000, the trio of filmmakers behind the film – Co-Producer Catherine Rierson, Co-Producer/Composer Ben Johnson, Director/Editor/Co-Producer Alex Glustrom – are trying to secure as much funding as possible to offset the cost of licensing fees for the hours of archival footage used to tell Charity’s story.
The Kickstarter campaign runs until Friday, May 23. Backers receive a variety of gifts for their support, from a copy of the film’s poster to a limited edition painting by folk artist Dr. Bob featuring the slogan “Where miracles happened and the unusual occurred.”
