Coast under mental strain - The Clarion-Ledger

Coast under mental strain - The Clarion-Ledger: "'Yes, Mississippians are resilient,' he added. 'But they're also tired.'"

Jewish Coalition Supports MS Mental Health
On Monday, a coalition made up of Jewish people from around the country helped cut the ribbon on the new office for the Center For Community Resilience in Biloxi. United Jewish Communities has put nearly $2 million into improving mental health in the aftermath of Katrina.

And so it goes ...

I just came from my daughter's blog and read her post entitled "Treading Water". Of course, it upset me but, you see, I agree with her. I am one of those people who try to handle everything that life may throw at them. Although my husband died six years before Katrina made landfall, I was still grieving. It was my only marriage. So for those six years, before we were to experience Katrina's fury and the depressing aftermath, I had gone through many prior trials. One could truthfully say that I was emotionally drained but still trying to take care of everything.

In the 15 months that have passed I went once to see a former office of ours in Gulfport and couldn't enter as the roof had collapsed. There were squirrels running in and out of the debris. I stood there with memories racing through my mind. All I could take with me were a couple of bricks as a momento of a lifetime spent there. As of this date, the bricks are still in my car. My late husband's grave is in Gulfport and December 3, 2005 is the last time I visited. Only a ritual, but just like the bricks it is a comforting thing to do. Traffic and fatalities are increasing on the interstate and I don't want to be one of the statistics.

I have seen first hand what my younger daughter has gone through since the storm. Her baby girl was 17 days old when the storm came ashore, now she is 15 months old and growing up in unsettled surroundings. All the children are but what else can she do? This past August she had a miscarriage and almost didn't survive ... but still she goes on.

Take for instance, everything that the people around the United States have donated to help us has never reached some of us as we do not qualify as "needy". It has nothing to do with need, like the two bricks, we all need something to hang on to. Just to let us know somebody cares. Just a few days ago bikers, most of them locals, roared in to Gulfport and brought toys for the needy children. Even though I could buy the toys, I wished I could bring all my younger grandchildren and have someone say, "This is for you"!

A daughter also lives in Gulfport and I seldom see her as she is busy running her office. Two other daughters live elsewhere and so that leaves me with the youngest. She trying to help me and Me trying to help her. And so it goes...

The Sun Herald | 10/24/2006 | 421 days

The Sun Herald | 10/24/2006 | 421 days: "It has been 421 days since Hurricane Katrina stormed ashore. There is nothing particularly significant about that number. Unless...

Unless you are one of the tens of thousands still without a home or a job or a sense of security.

Unless you are one of those who shudders at the thought that there is still more than a month left in hurricane season.

Unless you still find yourself thinking about going to a favorite restaurant or shop or friend's house, only to realize that it is gone. And may never return.

Then, without pausing to consult a calendar, you know it has indeed been a long, long time since Katrina. But not long enough to forget. Or get over it."

Mental health concerns continue to rise in county

Mental health concerns continue to rise in county: "Two major Katrina issues for people, he said, are that they are rebuilding their homes but also rebuilding their spirits. Yancey said victims are exhausted and experiencing memory loss.

'There's not a quick fix. We just really weren't prepared for this,' Yancey said."

This is true folks, it has happened to me. I had an appointment with a doctor today and I couldn't answer any of his questions.. the words just wouldn't come. He gave me a anti depressant to help me cope. I didn't lose my home or possessions so imagine how the people who did are feeling.

Well, I just came through a severe storm that seemed to come out of nowhere tonight. It came in with a blast of wind, terrible lightning and a downpour. My power went off three times and even though I anticipated power failure, I didn't bother to get the oil lamp. I had a candle burning and decided that would be enough. I actually am not frightened of the weather anymore. I realize that I may be displaying abnormal behavior but this is honestly the way I feel. I am in a state of resignation.... Que Cera Cera!!

I wonder if others feel as I do? As time marches on to a year since the storm devastated our lives, the thought of evacuating and enduring more discomfort and upheaval in my already chaotic existence, has become almost a certainty that, if I have a choice, I will not leave. Stupidity you may say.... No! .... exhaustion. I think that it is more mental exhaustion than physical. Because we don't have enough physical diversions, we dwell on the magnitude of the problems we have and thus experience the emotions of hopelessness and helplessness. Of the two emotions mentioned, helplessness is the one that is distressing to me because it is the opposite of what I and many people were before Katrina. Helpless, according to the dictionary, means incompetent, incapable and dependent on others to take care of you.

We, the people, are not in the position to make the rules. Officials are making them for us. I have said before, that if we, the people, had been allowed to rebuild our homes to the specifications of our choice, much more progress would have been accomplished and we would have been on our way to recovery. I hope there is still freedom of speech!

Boredom

I am sure all of you at one time or another have experienced boredom. Right? You thought of maybe going to a movie just to get out of the house. Maybe you did a little shopping and bought something frivolous to cheer yourself up. Right? I used to do that but let me tell you something about what it's like here ... and getting worse. I was an early riser, now I sleep very late and feel a little irritated if I should awaken too early. Sleeping is my way of shortening what I have learned will be a very boring day. There is no entertainment in Pascagoula at this time. Of course, there will be in the future. Many things are promised all around the coast for an unspecified time in the distant future, unfortunately, we live in the present.

I wish the people in neighborhoods would have block parties. Now that would make the wait for progress a little more bearable. That doesn't happen either. When I first moved into my present home fifteen months ago, I met a total of four people and haven't seen them since. I read the same articles that you do about people coming together and helping one another and I am not saying it doesn't happen with some people, it just hasn't happened for me or anyone that I know. Which reminds me of the grant letters going out, not any of the people I know have received the letter. What are the chances of that?

It is raining here again and it is thundering and lightning. I am not scared of the weather anymore. I guess I should be, but Katrina seems to have scared me so much, as it did thousands of other people, that I don't feel fear anymore. See, that isn't natural, is it? Or maybe it is a blessing. "There is no fear but fear itself".

Another daughter from Gulfport came for a visit recently and she brought me up on the news there. Things are just the same in that area, no progress. We are all wallowing, not in a state of pleasure but in a state of stagnation.

Chron.com | (PZ) TASER Device Prevents Post-Katrina Suicide Attempt

Chron.com | (PZ) TASER Device Prevents Post-Katrina Suicide Attempt: "According to news reports from The Times-Picayune, a New Orleans man was arrested Tuesday night after attempting to commit suicide and begging officers to shoot him to death. According to James Arey, commander of the police negotiations team, John McCusker, a Times-Picayune photographer, set out to kill himself after becoming depressed about not being able to financially rebuild his Katrina-devastated home. McCusker was spotted driving erratically near Napoleon Avenue and Baronne Street just before 7:30 p.m. and struck several parked vehicles before finally complying with officers' requests to pull over. An officer then approached McCusker's car with a gun and asked him to step out of the vehicle while a second officer posted behind the car. McCusker refused and instead rolled down the window and asked repeatedly to be killed before putting the car in reverse, pinning the second officer between McCusker's vehicle and the patrol car. Two shots were fired but missed the tires of McCusker's car as he sped off."

NOLA.com: Search

NOLA.com: Search: "A man who police said was depressed after he found out he didn't have enough insurance money to rebuild his Katrina-ravaged New Orleans home was arrested Tuesday after trying to get police to shoot him to death, New Orleans police said.

John McCusker, a photographer for The Times-Picayune, was taken into custody. Police said he will be charged, but were unsure what charges will be filed. He was being held under psychiatric observation."

A Wasted Year

It is now the first day of August, a month that I have never liked because that's when the southern heat is at it's worst. "Dog Days" as we call them. For me,the heat was always bearable as I knew that September was forthcoming and cool,if not cold days, would soon begin. There is no other place I would rather be in the winter months. Now...I have lost much of my happy anticipation for just about everything I once enjoyed after wasting an entire year of my life. A year of seeing nothing but destruction, very little progress and hearing all the rhetoric in the news about how well we are doing. A resilient people right? I used to be. I used to be a lot of things. I used to be a happy person, a very spirited lady but somehow Katrina is slowly squeezing the life out of me. In past years,I would begin Christmas shopping by mid August as I was convinced I was Mrs. Claus. I always had the tree decorated at Thanksgiving so we could look at the beauty of it while enjoying the meal I had prepared. Since the storm so much of that kind of celebration has passed us by.Last Christmas the daughter and her family were sick with flu like symptoms and a cough but there was a decorated tree for the children,the damage in the room was cleverly concealed by my daughter. They, me too, all had the cough for many months after the storm but the doctors "debunked" the notion that all the contaminants we had come in contact with was the cause. So many people had it that it became known as the "Katrina Cough".

We have been living in isolation for this period of time and never really knew what was going on in the other areas. Because of the enormous amount of videos that are out.... now we know. In our darkest hours, we had desperately needed supplies turned away from us. Why? A person without food can live longer than one without water. We have seen national guardsmen that were given orders to shoot another American if they didn't get out of their damaged houses in New Orleans. If this had happened to you, wouldn't you be frightened as we are? Mississippi's National Guard (40%) was deployed to Iraq shortly before Katrina. It was the biggest deployment in the State's history. They weren't here to get ice and water to us.I suppose it was an unfortunate coincidence.

Enormous amounts of debris has been picked up making the desolation at least a little cleaner.There are still homes with blue tarp on the roofs. There are many locally owned businesses that have given no sign that they will rebuild. Many streets in neighborhoods are showing signs of future collapse. Utilities are passing their losses to us in the way of estimation not actual usage.To live without a vision for a better future is not living at all. It is merely existing. .

The Sun Herald | 07/08/2006 | Harvard psychologists visiting Coast for a week to help people overcome unhealthy feelings after the stormKatrinaCycle

The Sun Herald | 07/08/2006 | Harvard psychologists visiting Coast for a week to help people overcome unhealthy feelings after the stormKatrinaCycle: "'Everyone here is impacted, whether or not you had damage to your property, and that is because the whole community is impacted. You can't get away from Katrina. Everyone is talking about it, and it's in the news. The ongoing sensory impact is significant.

'You don't have the advantage here of getting away from it for a while.'"

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Suicide Threats Have Soared Since The Storm

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Suicide Threats Have Soared Since The Storm: "Phyllis Kennybrew has been a Harrison County dispatcher for six years.

'When I come in, I just feel like I can help somebody,' she said.

Kennybrew lost her home to Katrina. She does her best to keep that disappointment out of the dispatch center, because she wants 911 callers to feel comfortable when they talk with her.

'Some people just need encouragement,' she said. 'And when they call in here, if we're down, then we can't give them that support that they need.'

But since Katrina, staying upbeat in the Harrison County dispatch center hasn't been easy. The calls that come in are more agonizing than ever before.

Just ask Capt. Walter Pitts. He's noticed, 'More people are under stress for the littlest things. It just ticks them off now.'

And when people get ticked off, what they do next can be very dangerous. Sheriff George Payne has learned that lesson the hard way.

'This weekend alone we had about eight attempted suicide reports that we had to respond to and deal with,' he said.

Eight calls from people who more than likely had seen too many hurricane debris piles -- or had one too many confrontations with insurance adjusters, contractors, or FEMA agents."