Hurricane Katrina, continued

The conversation was dominated by concerns about the many exhausted officers who had worked around the clock, 80% of whom had lost homes and whose family members were displaced or even missing. They described how the officers tried to the best of their abilities to "protect and serve" to keep the city safe and rescue trapped citizens, with their efforts hampered by massive flooding, lack of boats, and lack of equipment. A number focused on the recent suicides of two popular officers, committed at the height of the chaos and personal loss.

We and members of our staff devoted ourselves to supporting the courageous first responders in New Orleans, helping them where they congregated and were temporarily quartered, and then - as they finally had stable housing, food, water, and clean clothing - on the cruise ships docked in the harbor. We sat and stood with them, listening to their stories and frustrations, reinforcing their resiliency, helping them to achieve a sense of "normalcy" in the abnormal world that was left after the hurricane and flooding.

We then worked with FEMA and the Coast Guard to bring families together on the cruise ships, to get children in school, and to carry out additional psychological first aid. Initially, 40 children joined parents on the boats; there are currently over 400

children, ranging in age from 0 to 18 years. We have worked collaboratively with colleagues from Department of Education and Office of Mental Health to provide full educational opportunities in the adjacent Jefferson Parish. Together with SAMHSA volunteers, we have created child and family oriented activities including child care for the younger children and respite care when needed. By the time you read this, we will have started after school interactive tutoring. Although the children and families were initially dispirited and are still stressed by the continuing uncertainties, we have seen a growing sense of community and more smiles on children's faces as they are able to be children again, playing and enjoying fun times.

At the same time, our NCTSN center, the Louisiana Rural Trauma Services Center , has provided even more services and has reached out to many displaced children in receiving parishes. For example, working collaboratively with school staff, we have carried out groups with displaced children who are eager to share their experiences during Katrina, talk about what their world is like now, and, for many, their hope to return to New Orleans. The students talk about missing their friends and family members, and their losses, fears, strengths, and hopes. Our team hopes to extend services to adjacent, highly impacted areas in order to help build resiliency and meet the needs of the many traumatized school age-children and their families.