An AP article by Megan Reichgott published today takes a brief look at the mental health of those affected by hurricane Katrina.
As many as 500,000 Katrina evacuees around the country may need mental health counseling, according to the U.S. Substance and Mental Health Services Administration.Several states that took in evacuees are recognizing the problem, changing their focus from providing housing and jobs to offering counseling and emotional support.
In Illinois, about 20 counselors are tracking down approximately 7,000 evacuees, and officials are referring them to professionals.
Dr. Anthony Ng, chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters says Katrina evacuees run the risk of such problems as depression, recurring nightmares and drug and alcohol abuse.
“When people are talking about post-traumatic stress disorder, they usually talk about something like a plane crash, but this is more complicated than usual,” Ng says. “What makes Katrina different is the scale of the disaster and the length of time people went through it.”
At first, evacuees “had sort of a honeymoon phase, when the assets, the Red Cross and volunteers are rolling in,” says J.W. Holcomb, coordinator of mental health disaster response for the Illinois Division of Mental Health. “But just now they’re coming to grips with the fact that, `Hey, I’m no better than I was before. I’ll never get back my picture of Grandma or my high school yearbook. And I’m in a strange place.’”
To help evacuees handle the stress, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have given states more than $67 million, including a $19.2 million grant announced this month.
The grant will go toward local mental health programs for Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri and Colorado. Texas _ which received the largest share of the evacuees _ will get most of the latest grant, about $12.1 million.
So SAMHSA and FEMA have given $67 million for the mental health care of 500,000 evacuees. Thats a whopping $134 dollars per evacuee. And once this money goes through your general state and federal bureaucracy plus trying to notify evacuees of these services it will probably be around $50 per person. That’s maybe one therapy session or a month of medications, take your pick.
Even the “lucky” ones in hurricane Katrina, the ones who had the means to evacuate, have been trying to build a life out of absolutely nothing familiar. Their neighbors, homes, jobs, and personal possesions will never be fully restored. Then there are those who were trapped in filth, terror, and anarchy, waiting days to be rescued.
Sorry, I just don’t think $134 per person is going to cut it.
