BP agrees to pay $15 million in mental-health aid to Gulf Coast residents

From Houma Today:

HOUMA, La. — BP will provide $15 million for immediate mental-health aid for coastal residents as they continue to struggle with joblessness and depression stemming from the Gulf oil spill.

Health officials and lawmakers, who have complained for months that BP was failing to address an obvious need, praised the company’s Monday announcement.

But aiding those most affected is still proving difficult.

“Small-business owners are struggling to pay their bills. Families are worried about having a paycheck to put food on the table and to keep the electricity on. For many in Louisiana, this tragedy will be the turning point in their lives,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. “The $15 million is a down payment on combating the post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression that our people may face in the coming weeks and months.”

The $15 million for Louisiana is part of a $52 million grant to federal and state health organizations in Mississippi and Alabama, which got $12 million each, and Florida, which got $3 million. The corporation said it will give $10 million to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

This is the first money BP has dedicated directly to mental-health services.

Before the oil spill, money and facilities for mental-health care in Louisiana were in short supply. And the last two state budgets have cut millions from programs that care for the mentally ill.

A study by Ochsner Health System found that 30 percent of those surveyed in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were suffering from serious psychological distress and that the rate of mental illness among the people of south Louisiana has doubled in the past three years.

Tony Keck, interim administrator for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said the state used some of the $25 million in initial emergency money from BP to restart the Louisiana Spirit program and send counselors into affected communities. Louisiana Spirit was started after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“We know that these folks who’ve been hit with a trauma are not necessary inclined to say ‘Hey, I need help,’ and walk into a clinic,” Keck said. “So our counselors go into communities where people who are in need are gathering.”

Keck said BP offered to send Louisiana $7 million in mental- health aid to tide the state over for more than six months while long-term needs are evaluated. The state refused, saying it wasn’t enough. With $15 million now on the table, Keck said BP has also committed to providing long-term aid. The state has worked with nonprofit groups to put together a $28.9 million, five-year plan for disaster-recovery mental health care.

Of the initial $15 million, 44 percent will go to nonprofit agencies that have been working with oil spill-affected residents, such as Catholic Charities.

Rob Gorman, director of Catholic Charities of Houma-Thibodaux, said the agency has provided counseling to residents affected by the spill in Terrebonne, south Lafourche and Grand Isle. The group has also helped those affected cover utility payments, rent and mortgages and buy necessary medications and food.

“Folks are under tremendous stress,” Gorman said. “They’ve got anxiety over their future and lack of income, and it comes out in things like depression, alcoholism and domestic abuse.”

Keck said bayou residents take pride in self-sufficiency, and breaking through people’s need to work things out for themselves is the most difficult part of providing care.

“Looking at myself, I know it would probably do me some good to talk to someone,” said Chauvin resident Susan Felio-Price. “I’m outraged — and it does affect my daily life. I take it very personal. This is my land, my community, my home.”

Felio-Price attends community meetings related to the oil spill, keeps up with the news and is overwhelmed with questions about how the spill will affect bayou residents’ health and the environment in coming years. But she says she’s recovered from multiple floods while living in Chauvin, and she and other bayou residents are used to caring for themselves.

Keck said counselors work with nonprofit groups to try to make sure familiar faces are offering care to bayou residents who might be wary of it. Wives of fishermen have also gotten involved with Louisiana Spirit.

Gorman said the number of referrals for mental- health care that Catholic Charities workers have made so far is small, about a dozen.

“Unfortunately, folks are very skilled at dealing with disasters down here,” he said.

But what he worries about is the cumulative effect that hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike, the oil spill and the active hurricane season forecasted for this year could have on residents.

“No matter how you think you’re coping, the stress builds up,” Gorman said. “It will come out one way or another.”