Health risks in Katrina`s wake

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WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) --

Health risks in Katrina`s wake

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/health/article_1150593.php/Health_

risks_in_Katrina%60s_wake?page=1

New Orleans residents who are returning to their homes in the

aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are finding that, although the

immediate threat to their safety has passed, health risks remain.

But despite the dangers from the mold and toxic chemicals that

Katrina left behind, New Orlean`s healthcare infrastructure is still

stuggling, with the city`s most needy paying the highest price.

Earlier this month, New Orleans residents protested the closing of

Charity Hospital, the city`s only Level 1 trauma center, saying it

would leave a gap in care for the city`s low-income and uninsured.

The owners of the hospital, Louisiana State University-Health Care

Services Division, issued a statement saying the structure was too

damaged by flooding to be salvaged.

A new center is being built in cooperation with the Department of

Veterans Affairs, but will not open for five years. In the interim,

the poor will be forced to rely on a series of temporary clinics.

As the weather warms, federal authorities are warning of the

increased environmental hazards the hurricane, and accompanying

flooding, left behind.

'Given the extent of the damage during the hurricane, there`s only

so much that can be done,' Capt. Sven Rodenbeck of the Centers for

Disease Control told United Press International. 'People have to

protect themselves.'

Residents returning to their homes in New Orleans are being warned

about dangers from chemicals, snakes, mosquitoes and mold - which

will only being heightened as the temperature outside increases, he

said.

Parts of the city that were flooded are covered in mold, he said,

and the young, the old, and anyone with respiratory problems or a

compromised immune system is advised not to spend time there.

Doctors and hospitals are being warned to prepare for potential

increases in certain kinds of injuries.

'Hospitals and healthcare providers are in line to do what they

can,' he said.

CDC staff members have been stationed at hospitals to provide

assistance and lookout for spikes in illness or injury, Rodenbeck

said. 'Constant communication is really the key.'

Meanwhile, some residents are taking matters into their own hands.

Beverly , of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice

at Dillard University, is no stranger to chemical contamination. The

center has worked on sites in the Mississippi chemical corridor for

years, she said.

So when she returned to her home in New Orleans, she knew the health

hazard that the inches-thick layer of sludge left by receding

floodwaters could pose. Environmental Protection Agency measurements

merely confirmed what she has already suspected - the soil was now

full of toxins like arsenic, barium, and benzo(a)pyrene at levels

that could cause cancer and other long-term illness.

At first she thought government - busy cleaning up the French

Quarter and other parts of the city - would remove the poisonous

layer from her neighborhood`s lawns, said. Instead, she and

her neighbors saw only reassuring flyers posted about an eventual

cleanup, but the sludge remained. Neighborhood residents began

cleaning up their lawns without important safety gear.

'We were seeing all those horrible things, and it seemed like the

agencies responsible for our health were silent,' she told UPI.

So started organizing. She recruited volunteers from local

universities, community organizations and Americorps. She secured

funding from private donors like Ford Foundation and the National

Black Environmental Justice Network.

To help protect volunteer health, she turned to an ally with a lot

of experience dealing with toxins - the United Steelworkers union.

The union trained volunteers to safely remove the top layer of

sludge using heavy machinery.

In two days, steelworkers and trained volunteers cleared the lawns

of 25 homes on the 8100 block of Aberdeen Road were cleared. Over

the weekend, more than 100 untrained volunteers lay new sod.

FEMA agreed to pick up the dredged materials and dispose of them

safely.

The residents of the neighborhood were 'ecstatic,' said

of the center. 'They were so excited.'

'Residents cooked for the volunteers and did what they could to make

them more comfortable. They were the envy of their neighbors, I can

tell you,' she said.

The organizers of the project, called A Safe Way Back Home, hope

that government agencies will adopt this low-cost and rapid model of

cleanup, Jim Frederick, assistant director for health and safety at

the union, told UPI.

'This is a wonderful demonstration of initiative that could be

replicated throughout this side of New Orleans and the entire city,'

Frederick said. 'One of our goals is to help people return to their

houses and turn them back into homes.'

'The people of New Orleans are not sitting around waiting for a

handout,' said. 'We are willing to do our share, but we want

what we deserve from the federal government.'

While it remains unclear how long New Orleans residents will be

waiting for what they say is their due from the government, for now,

federal officials have acted to compensate neighboring states that

weren`t caught up in Katrina`s wrath, but that took in those who

were.

Late last week, the federal Department of Health and Human Services

dispersed the first $1.5 billion of the $2 billion Congress set

aside to help states that took in refugees from Louisiana,

Mississippi and Alabama.

When those displaced persons arrived in their new locations, they

had lost homes, jobs -- and the health insurance that came with

them. States were given special permission form the federal

government to immediately enroll the new population into their

Medicaid programs.

Some of the individuals who enrolled had income low enough to

qualify for Medicaid before the storm hit, while others found

themselves in need in the hurricane`s aftermath.

'Last year, when disaster struck, President Bush promised to make

states whole for the cost of caring for their neighbors,' HHS

Secretary Mike Leavitt said. 'The President and Congress have made

good on that statement.'