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Katrina victims in immediate need of mental counseling and medical attention

A study is conducted on families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. It provides a grim portrait of the hurricane’s effects on some of the poorest victim.

34 percent of displaced children suffer from conditions like asthma, anxiety and behavioral problems. 14 percent of them went without prescribed medication.

44 percent of the displaced said that they had no health insurance. They lost their jobs after the storm. Nearly half are managing at least one chronic condition like diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer. 37 percent described their health as fair or poor.

The survey found that, of the children who had primary doctors before the storm, about half no longer did. Of those who still had doctors, the parents said that they had not yet tried to contact them.

The study’s authors recommended expanding Medicaid to provide universal disaster relief and emergency mental health services from the federal Public Health Service to the region.

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