Gulf Coast kids of every class affected by Katrina

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Source: USA TODAY


Gulf Coast kids of every class affected by Katrina
Updated 4h 33m ago

By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY
Nearly two years after it hit, Hurricane Katrina continues to wreak havoc in the lives of many Gulf Coast children of every socioeconomic class, says Corey Hebert, a New Orleans pediatrician.

"The difference is, the poor ones ended up stranded on a bridge with no food or water for three days," he says, "while the better-off ones saw it on TV. Their houses may have been destroyed, but they weren't here to see it. If you had kids and a car that worked, generally you weren't here."

Spared the brunt of physical trauma, many affluent children are doing better than the poor ones, Hebert says. But families came back to demolished neighborhoods and new financial strains, discovering they'd lost friends or relatives who had left town. So Hebert says he sees plenty of middle-class kids with anxiety and depression linked to Katrina's effects.

Panic attacks during rainy weather are common, says Hebert, but therapists to treat childhood panic are very scarce.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-16-neworleans-doctor_N.htm?csp=1