Interviewer(s): Ernesto Valdez

Project: University of Houston

Dr. Herminia Palacio, Executive Director, Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services, Houston, Texas, was interviewed on August 8, 2006, in her offices at 2223 West Loop South, Houston, Texas. Her role in the Katrina rescue represented a broad spectrum of public health issues that arose in the Astrodome and the Reliant Center complex, which in turn required her to deal with municipal to federal government agencies. This interview gives insight from the perspective of a major responder and the effects that a disaster has on the community, the families, and the individuals on both sides of an evacuation event.

The interview was conducted by Ernesto Valdés, Center for Public History, University of Houston where the tape is deposited in M.D. Anderson Library on the main campus of the university.