Poll: Many Katrina Evacuees Face Health Woes

摘要：16, 2005 -- Many Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston shelters are dealing with serious health problems and a lack of health insurance, a new survey shows。The survey included 680 randomly selected adult evacuees, virtually all of whom were from New Orleans。 The survey comes from The Washington......

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Sept. 16, 2005 -- Many Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston shelters are dealing with serious health problems and a lack of health insurance, a new survey shows.

The survey included 680 randomly selected adult evacuees, virtually all of whom were from New Orleans. The survey comes from The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Health Problems

About a third of the evacuees noted health problems or injuries from the hurricane or flood (33%).

Chronic health conditions were reported by roughly four in 10 evacuees (41%). Chronic conditions included heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma/other lung disease, physical disability, and cancer.

More than three out of four evacuees noting health problems stated that those problems were being taken care of (78%).

Nearly a quarter of the evacuees said that the reason they didn't evacuate earlier was that they had to care for someone who was physically unable to leave.

Access to Prescription Drugs

A little less than half of the evacuees reported that they were supposed to be taking prescription drugs or medicine (43%).

Problems getting those prescriptions filled were noted by about three in 10 of those evacuees (29%).

Health Insurance Issues

More than half of the evacuees said that they had no health insurance before the hurricane (52%).

Many of those with health insurance relied on the government's Medicaid or Medicare programs. Medicaid coverage was noted by 34%; Medicare by 16%.

Before Hurricane Katrina, nearly half of the evacuees reported getting most of their medical care at hospitals (46%), especially Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

Resilience Factor

Many evacuees stated that they didn't have money in the bank, friends or family who could take them in, a working cell phone, or any usable credit cards (apart from debit cards given to evacuees by the government or Red Cross).

However, they often voiced positive feelings about the future.

The poll included a list of emotions. Evacuees were asked to pick those that described how they felt about the future. Here are their responses:

• Frightened: 64% said no
• Angry: 60% said no
• Grateful: 82% said yes
• Depressed: 50% said yes
• Relieved: 71% said yes
• Hopeful: 87% said yes

The poll only included evacuees in Houston shelters. Evacuees staying with relatives or friends may feel differently, the survey notes.

SOURCES: The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University: "Survey of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees." News release, Kaiser Family Foundation.

发布日期：2006-6-27

• 相关主题关键字：
• Katrina
• Evacuees
• Health
• evacuees

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