Children's Health Fund president says Katrina kids are "the sickest I have ever seen in the U.S."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Katrina Kids: Sickest Ever
By Mary Carmichael | NEWSWEEK
Published Nov 22, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Dec 1, 2008



http://www.newsweek.com/id/170370

Even before the storm, they were some of the country's neediest kids. Now, the children of Katrina who stayed longest in ramshackle government trailer parks in Baton Rouge are "the sickest I have ever seen in the U.S.," says Irwin Redlener, president of the Children's Health Fund and a professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. According to a new report by CHF and Mailman focusing on 261 displaced children, the well-being of the poorest Katrina kids has "declined to an alarming level" since the hurricane. Forty-one percent are anemic—twice the rate found in children in New York City homeless shelters, and more than twice the CDC's record rate for high-risk minorities. More than half the kids have mental-health problems. And 42 percent have respiratory infections and disorders that may be linked to formaldehyde and crowding in the trailers, the last of which FEMA finally closed in May. The "unending bureaucratic haggling" at federal and state levels over how to provide services and rebuild health centers for the Gulf's poor has made a bad situation much worse, says Redlener: "As awful as the initial response to Katrina looked on television, it's been dwarfed by the ineptitude and disorganization of the recovery."

Some kids may end up with permanent developmental and cognitive delays, but many can still be helped. The first step will be finding them. FEMA was supposed to provide Louisiana with contact information for the families that moved out of the trailers; it has not done so. The agency's case-management program also "has yet to provide any services for thousands of families," according to the report, and funding for the program expires in March. Redlener is optimistic that funds will be extended at least through mid-2010, since all that will require is "a stroke of the pen" from the new administration. But, he adds, he's "not Pollyanna-ish about how rapidly" the disaster-planning system will get its act together and come up with long-term plans for the impoverished families—or whether that will be accomplished in time "to make sure this doesn't happen again" with the next storm.

[glowing]

1. What an unending nightmare this Bush administration has been.

For Katrina alone, he should go to jail.

[ensho]

2. this is so unfair to the kids - we can't even have the heart to keep

our kids healthy. but then an america run by men has never given much thought to children unless prodded by, you know who, the women.

we don't even have enough money to send kids to medical school so they can help these sick american kids.

its not just american kids that are sick and under treated; its all the kids in Iraq that we have caused to be sick and injured and under treated.

sigh

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd for the horror: how can that man-and his inept admin- sleep at night? nt

[Mnemosyne]

9. Sociopaths have no conscience, very easy for them to sleep. n/t

[formercia]

4. Another stop, another transit camp on the road

of the American GULAG. Welcome to the real World, Neo.


This was all part of the voter suppression plan to turn New Orleans Red. They didn't care how many died in the process.

This is what they mean when they call themselves 'pro-life.'

[Billy Burnett]

5. And some DUers have the unmitigated nerve to call Cuba a hellhole.

The Cubans overthrew the corporate oligarchy in 1959.

Learn from Cuba

DISASTER PLANNING ESSENTIAL FOR MINIMIZING RISKS

Cuba is a unique example. There is a strong central government committed to protecting all its citizens, even the poorest and most isolated who are typically the most at risk. The most common natural disaster in Cuba is a hurricane, a threat visible for days and even weeks in advance. Yet building a culture of disaster preparedness, and involving local communities in mitigating risks, are strategies that can be applied in many other places, regardless of how rich or poor a country might be.

Keep in mind that Cuba assembled a 1,500 person quick response medical team (the Henry Reeves Brigade)- offered to assist desperate Americans in NOLA.
Neither Bush nor Condi bothered to respond to the offer as thousands of Americans were desperate and dying.

A reminder of US standing by International Human Rights organizations

[madokie]

6. How any of this criminal crew are able to show their faces in public is beyond me

let along not be in jail. We have to go after this crew as if our democracy requires it. Oh it does...

[burythehatchet]

7. This is simply a subtle version of apatheid with slo motion genocide.

[Karenina]

8. The policies are about reducing the "excess population" worldwide.

They are nothing if not consistent...

[bluesmail]

10. Katrina's children make up the future of this country.

Thanks Dick. Thanks George. I'll even throw in a thanks to Poppy. It seems the needier you are...the more at risk for permanent damage. Again, Thanks guys.