Dr. John and I jumped in the car for the next 134 miles of the tour, traveling to the Louisiana city ravaged just 5 years ago by Hurricane Katrina…New Orleans. This where a city’s disadvantaged struggled in a natural disaster’s wake to find life-critical healthcare. This is where I performed my undergraduate university studies. And now, this is where Dr. John and I are traveling to bring new hope to the families and medical community about a new way to practice values-driven medicine.
We arrived just in time for Dr. John to help a youth fundraising event in River Ridge, just outside of New Orleans. After the dinner night, Dr. John encouraged young premedical students unsure about whether they can enter healthcare without being coerced into unethical procedures…he worked with a couple whose son and wife are struggling with infertility…and after the line of people gathered to speak with him, we still had time to sit down for a late night-New Orleans café dinner.
————————
The day after on that Sunday night, Dr. John spoke to a spell-bound crowd of high school students about his experiences as a former abortion provider, and now how to live a life committed to service to the underserved people and caring for every patient, pre- and post-birth, in their own New Orleans community.
Student after student came up to him as a role model and father, finding in Dr. John a compassionate and calming presence amid their issues.
Nick, a 4th year dental student at the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry soberly commented that Dr. John has dedicated himself to an “awe-inspiring task,” bringing a message of hope and a proven approach to true reproductive medicine.
