[StBernard] Landrieu Introduces FEMA Reform Bill to Provide Mental Health Care to Disaster Victims

[Westley Annis]

Landrieu Introduces FEMA Reform Bill to Provide Mental Health Care to
Disaster Victims

 

WASHINGTON - United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., yesterday
introduced a bill reforming the Stafford Act to allow the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to provide substance abuse and mental health care
treatment for disaster victims, including Katrina and Rita survivors. 

"One of the clear deficiencies of the Stafford Act is that it ignores the
long-term mental health care needs of survivors of catastrophic disasters,"
Sen. Landrieu said. "This reality was punctuated during a hearing I chaired
last year on mental health issues along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many members of our communities suffered from
extreme emotional distress, which has impeded our recovery. 

"As we watch the flooding along the Mississippi River in the Midwest, we
must take the lessons of Katrina and Rita to heart and address necessary
reforms to the Stafford Act and FEMA. I will continue to work with my
colleagues to implement these reforms and will push for quick passage of
this critical bill."

Lack of infrastructure for mental health care is demonstrated by the sharp
decrease in inpatient psychiatric beds since hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
despite the growing problem. Prior to the storms there were 555 beds in
Orleans and St. Bernard parishes, and today there are only 333. 

Current law only allows FEMA to provide funds to individuals for short-term
crisis management. The Disaster Recovery Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Treatment Act, "DR. SAM," would allow FEMA to provide funding for mental
health treatment and substance abuse, including medication costs, in
federally declared disaster area for an 18-month period that could be
extended at the President's discretion. The bill would be retroactive to
Katrina and Rita survivors.

Last year, Sen. Landrieu's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Disaster Recovery Subcommittee held a hearing on the increasing mental
health care needs along the Gulf Coast. Louisiana doctors representing state
and local mental health care agencies testified that many Gulf Coast
residents with no troubles before the storms have experienced mental health
problems. Dr. Howard Osofsky, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at
LSU Health Sciences Center, said that children, in particular, are
experiencing mental trauma in the aftermath of the hurricanes.

"Without adequate mental health services, we can count on these children
having increased incidences of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression,
and decreased ability to meet their potential," Dr. Osofsky said at the
hearing.

Last year, a Landrieu provision was signed into law to restore priority
grant funding to centers that provide mental health services to children
affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One such program -- the Louisiana
Rural Trauma Services Center, managed by Louisiana State University -- had
received federal funding for four years to aid children faced with traumatic
stress, but lost its funding. 

 

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