Mental Health Crisis hits New Orleans

Mental health crisis plagues New Orleans
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
NEW ORLEANS — Bernel Johnson showed all the signs.
He was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as aggressive, homeless and schizophrenic. He was kicked out of a Salvation Army homeless shelter late last year for holding a fork to a fellow resident's throat. On Jan. 4, Johnson was committed to a psychiatric facility for causing a disturbance at a bank. He was released and, a few weeks later, attacked New Orleans police Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, in a parking lot.

Johnson wrestled Cotton's service handgun from her and shot her 15 times, killing the officer, police said. Johnson remains in jail without bond, charged with first-degree murder.

New Orleans health and law enforcement officials say more cases such as this could unfold if the city's mental health crisis isn't resolved soon. Since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city 2½ years ago, the number of public mental health facilities and community outreach centers has decreased dramatically, leaving the mentally ill without medication and monitoring.

Mental illness also is rampant among the city's homeless, whose population has spiked since the storm from 6,200 to 12,000 today, says Sam Scaffidi of the New Orleans Police Homeless Assistance Unit. Under the Interstate 10 overpass at the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street downtown, homeless encampments have multiplied since Katrina into a sprawling colony of tents, soiled sleeping bags and cardboard caves.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-04-katrina-health_N.htm
Linked from RawStory


This was one storm that caused days of trauma and suffering. Now think about what happened to these people. Now think about living with trauma everyday while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Think about Vietnam veterans and all other veterans exposed to this kind of trauma. There is no need for anyone to ever question why so many are wounded by PTSD. We want to think the men and women who serve are different from us. In many ways, they are. We cannot forget that they are just humans and can experience the same wounds we do but they are exposed to more horrific traumatic events than we are.