Resilience-building can help communities after a disaster
A team of community health researchers including individuals from Tulane University recently examined ways to address behavioral health needs after disasters. The resulting study, “Case Study of Resilient Baton Rouge: Applying Depression Collaborative Care and Community Planning to Disaster Recovery,” published in the June issue of International Journal of Environmental and Public Health, illustrates how in the context of a disaster, community-involved planning can be combined with resiliency-oriented, mental health interventions that fit local culture.
Catherine Haywood, Prevention Research Center community engagement program manager and chair of the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network, and Ashley Wennerstrom, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Tulane School of Medicine, were part of the team. Their work resulted in the development of the Resilient Baton Rouge (RBR) effort to support recovery in Baton Rouge after its 2016 flooding. RBR offers a toolkit of manuals, forms and other resources to support community leaders, volunteers and others….
FEMA Begins Scaling Back Financial Assistance In Puerto Rico
Eleven months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has said that the island’s emergency is over. And because of that, the agency has begun scaling back its financial assistance to the island.
On Wednesday, FEMA denied a request from the island’s governor for the federal agency to continue covering 100 percent of the cost of emergency work — including power restoration, debris cleanup and other recovery efforts….
