Katrina Assistance Project

Hurricane Season 2005 brought the worst natural disasters in United States history.  SAMHSA activated the largest mental health deployment project ever attempted, the Katrina Assistance Project (KAP).  What originated as a contract to bring professional mental health workers to Louisiana for 60 days grew into over a thousand deployment assignments over 9 months and 3 states.

Late 2005 through the Asian American Psychological Association listserv, I noticed a “call for ethnic minority psychologists” to volunteer in the Gulf Coast region.  My immediate reaction was simply “yes”.  I wanted to try and contribute rather than continue helplessly watching the heartrending scenes on TV.

What followed were weeks of intense credential screening and disorderly travel planning, (a scene familiar to all government workers) and then deployment.  Volunteers had to keep up with First Responders and their 12+ hour shifts, sharing FEMA facilities set up within parking lots and deserted hotels.  Teams of licensed professionals, all strangers, needed to mobilize effectively within a vacuum of local infrastructure.  We showed up at outdoor makeshift canteens for breakfast, or at 6:30 a.m. roll calls, or ate with them late at night aboard the cruise ships which now housed thousands of homeless families. 

The weeks comprised a life-altering and bizarre mix of emotional highs and lows.  Psycho-education, therapeutic support, play therapy, and case management took place in police and fire stations, makeshift shelters, parking lots, cruise ships, and dining tents. 

Resilience sprouted among eerily dark streets despite the garbage, abandoned cars, and broken glass.  Daily team debriefings occurred where KAP volunteers could consult and share their joyful stories, anger, despair, horror, worries, laughter, and learning.

I spent the truest Thanksgiving imaginable serving with First Responders in New Orleans.  People who had lost everything shared special "9th ward gumbo" laughter as we listened to their disaster experiences and heard the pain of dislocated, separated families.   Our entire team extended our 2 week deployments so as to spend the holiday with First Responders and their families.  The KAP project ended, but I hope that SAMHSA will again include many ethnic minority psychologists to contribute their unique services when disaster strikes next.

 

The opinions stated here are my personal responses and in no way represent Westover Consultants, Inc.or SAMHSA.  The work described was performed under SAMHSA contract No. 280-02-0204, SAMHSA Katrina Assistance Project.

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