![Drew Hawkins is the Health Equity Reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom. He is based in New Orleans, Louisiana.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b4a2b20/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2566x3421+1288+0/resize/150x200!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3e%2F8b%2Fb2bdf4c348e8a5caf696ae41c74a%2Fdrew-hawkins-3.jpg)
Drew Hawkins
Health Equity Reporter, Gulf States NewsroomDrew Hawkins is the health equity reporter for the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration among public radio stations in Louisiana (WWNO and WRKF), Alabama (WBHM) and Mississippi (MPB-Mississippi Public Broadcasting) and NPR. He covers stories related to health care access and outcomes across the region, with a focus on the social factors that drive disparities.
Before joining the team, Drew freelanced for multiple outlets including The Guardian, Scalawag Magazine, Louisiana Illuminator, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, LitHub, and others.
Drew was born in Lafayette, grew up in LaPlace and moved to Ponchatoula after Katrina. He studied creative writing at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), and earned degrees at LSU in Baton Rouge. In short, he is a proud product of South Louisiana.
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The week-long, free program gives medical professionals tools to provide trauma-informed care — and potentially help with prosecutions.
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As heat waves and heat domes become more intense, the idea of naming extreme heat as we do with other major disasters is gaining traction with some experts.
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Playing outside can now become dangerous as climate change fuels longer and more intense heat waves. Camps in Louisiana are making adjustments to deal with higher temperatures this summer.
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Driven by climate change, extreme temperatures are forcing parents and camp counselors to change their summer routines to keep kids safe.
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A new report finds that the South leads the U.S. in increased ACA Marketplace enrollment — especially in states that have not expanded Medicaid.
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GSN reporters reflect on a year of the Utility Bill of the Month series investigating missing, expensive and just wrong water and power bills in the region.
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Several Southern legislatures seriously considered full Medicaid expansion this year to get health insurance for hundreds of thousands of low income residents, but in the end they all failed.
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More than a million people could get health care if these states would pass laws expanding Medicaid. Most residents want the expansion but entrenched politics stands in the way.
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Mississippi lawmakers couldn’t come together to pass a bill that could have expanded Medicaid for thousands of residents.
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Only 10 states have not joined the federal program that expands Medicaid to people who are still in the "coverage gap" for health care