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On
the Edge: Children and Families Displaced by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita Face a Looming Medical and Mental Health
Crisis
Contacts:
Irwin Redlener, MD
President/Co-Founder, The Children’s Health Fund
Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia
University
Mailman School of Public Health
(O) 212-305-0338
Gabrielle Schang
VP, External Affairs, The Children’s Health Fund
(O) (212) 535-9203
To request a copy of the complete survey and findings,
please email Alison Greene
agreene@chfund.org
It is now clear that massive challenges are facing the
recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region ravaged by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as the flooding
of New Orleans. Evacuees from the hardest hit communities
who are currently in extended shelter status, particularly
those with limited economic means, may already formally
fall under internationally accepted definitions of “internally
displaced persons” (as distinct from “refugees” who
cross international borders to escape persecution). More
than 50% of the New Orleans pre-Katrina population of
nearly 500,000 has not yet returned. Some have dispersed
to other parts of
Louisiana or many other states and may, in fact, be resettled
with some success.
For tens of thousands of other individuals and families,
however, prospects for resettlement are dim at best. Housing
reconstruction in affected areas has not yet begun, destroyed
communities are frozen in rubble which has hardly changed
since last September, decisions about re-establishing health
care facilities and schools are stalled and, all the while,
displaced, economically fragile children and their families
are trapped in circumstances which undermine access to
health care, social support and opportunity for livelihood.
There
is little concrete hope in the short or medium term for
many of these internally displaced families. All of them,
especially children, are subject to severe long-term stress
and worsening chronic health conditions. In addition, most
of them were already at excessive social and medical risk
prior to September 2005.
When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast on August
29, 2005, it clearly brought with it the worst devastation
from a natural disaster in our country’s history.
It also revealed longstanding problems that continue to
afflict many of our nation’s cities and states, especially
their poorest communities. As the recovery and rebuilding
from Katrina progresses, we have the opportunity to address
underlying problems that pre-dated the hurricane and undermine
the health and well-being of the nation’s most vulnerable,
medically underserved children.
A series of telephone surveys and structured observations
by health and social services professionals over the past
few months have underscored some of the major concerns
emerging among displaced individuals.
A
new study, the first comprehensive face-to-face field survey
of residents in FEMA shelters based in Louisiana, conducted
in February 2006 by David Abramson PhD, MPH and Richard
Garfield RN, DrPH, has documented a series of extremely
urgent needs which must be evaluated and addressed as quickly
as possible. Failure to address these needs will potentially
lead to permanent, highly significant consequences on the
health, mental health, education and well-being of thousands
of children and their families. The study, “On the
Edge: Children and Families Displaced by Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita Face a Looming Medical and Mental Health Crisis,” was
part of an ongoing needs assessment by Operation Assist,
a collaborative effort of the Children’s Health Fund
and The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
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