Posted on 11/08/2006 5:02:46 PM PST by blam
Mental Health Crisis Strains New Orleans
Thursday November 9, 2006 12:01 AM
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Mental health problems soared after Hurricane Katrina, just as the city's ability to handle them plummeted, creating a crisis so acute that police officers say they take some disturbed people to a destination of last resort - jail.
Because of the storm damage, only two of New Orleans' 11 hospitals are fully functioning. What's more, one of the closed facilities is the sprawling Charity Hospital, which police officers had relied on to drop off people at any hour.
``You knew they were safe. You knew they would get the care they needed. You don't know either of those things now,'' said James Arey, a psychologist who commands the police crisis negotiation team.
People who need medication can't find it or can't afford it, and the storm's aftermath has made life more stressful, as well, Arey said.
``Life is hard in this town now,'' he said.
A federally funded study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization found that mental health problems in the region roughly doubled in the months after Katrina, to 11.3 percent.
Take Kenneth Breaux, who said he was diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia years ago. Breaux, 44, was jailed in June 2005 but got caught in the judicial vacuum following Katrina and languished behind bars until last April, when he pleaded guilty to simple criminal damage and was released for time served.
Advocates say Breaux hasn't been able to get the medication he's taken for years because he's been homeless and unemployed since the storm, and he cannot find family members.
``He's getting no help,'' said Katie Schwartzman, an attorney for the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union who spoke with Breaux
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I think there was a huge problem with mental health there even before Katrina.
And this is different from before Katrina how?
If the leadership weren't so infested with this things would be a lot better.
Why don't these people effing MOVE, and turn NOLA into a theme park.
FMCDH(BITS)
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