Oral

The impact of Hurricane Katrina on the health and well being of children in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast continues. This disaster also had an enduring impact on the public health and other responders who provided care in its aftermath. This session will describe different aspects of the enduring impact of Katrina. First we will describe how unresolved, long term psycho-socio-ecological needs of individuals post-disaster may impair mental health functioning. Next we will present a study which provides al insight into effective disaster response planning for future disaster preparedness models, highlighting the nature of ailments that clinicians witnessed after the hurricane. The rest of the session will describe an oral history of the public health response to Hurricane Katrina done in the summer of 2006 with more than 50 public health providers identified at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, the New Orleans Public Health Department, and the Mississippi Department of Health. Most were executive or high-level administrators or managers, although a number of critical front-line providers were included. Each provided an oral history of their experience prior to, during, and in the weeks and months after Hurricane Katrina. The extent of the psychological impact of their response to the disaster is related the complexity of being disaster responders and victims at the same time. We will explore these issues through hearing their experiences in their own words.

Session Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be better able to: • Describe Urie Brofenbrenner's Ecological Sysmtems Theory as it applies to the mental health impact of disasters • Better understand medical needs immediately after a natural disaster • Discuss the range of activities public health workers carried out in responding to Hurricane Katrina

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing