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阅读理解
Alice watched from her brother's New Orleans house as Hurricane Katrina split trees, broke windows, and swallowed cars, including her own, A few miles away, her best friend, Pat also a nurse．was supervising patients in the high-risk hospital when the river banks broke, For the next six days, Pat and her crew lived there until a rescue boat picked them up,
Both of them were evacuated to safer parts of the States, Weeks later, they, like thousands of others,returned to find their homes uninhabitable, their jobs gone,
The following spring, as she was rebuilding her life, Alice contacted an information centre for returning, residents, When asked if she would head a desperatedly needed clinic, Alice said she'd do ti, but only with Pat, It took Pat less then five minutes to say yes, And after consulting with her children, she offered her damaged home as the new clinic．
As word spread, help poured in, Groups raised money and donated medical equipment, exam tables, free ductwork, other supplies and even labor, Bedrooms were transformed into exam rooms and Pat's living room into a waiting room．
On February 27,2007,the clinic opened, with patients lined up around the block, Those who came in that first day were very sick with problems from not taking their medicine for a year after Katrina, Over 1,200 people have made their way to the clinic, whose decoration passes what Pat calls the mama test．：“Would your mama feel comfortable here?”Until recently, it was the only health-care facility in there,“It's a relief to have a clinic right here in the neighborhood where I can check my pressure．”says Latoya Owens, 30, who suffers from hypertension．
“This is the most rewarding thing I ‘ve ever done,”says Alice．Adds Pat,“I ‘m alleviating(减轻)some suffering in an underserved population．I listen to their stories, and I cry a lot, People outside New Orleans think things are back to normal here, but we are far from that．”
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