September 09, 2005 Hurricane Katrina # 39 -- Regional Response Teams Established to Treat Evacuees

BATON ROUGE, Sep 09, 2005 -

Baton Rouge – Following Hurricane Katrina and the mass evacuation of the Greater New Orleans area, many residents are displaced and cannot access necessary social services such as counseling, substance abuse treatment or therapeutic services for people with developmental disabilities. The Department of Health has teams in place to address these needs and connect people immediately to the necessary services.

 LDH has established two response teams in each of the regions currently housing evacuees -- the Baton Rouge, Houma/Thibodaux, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Shreveport and Monroe areas. These teams, comprised of four members each, will be going to shelters and other areas to communicate with evacuees and first responders to assess their needs.

 The teams will each have a social worker, psychiatric worker, addictions counselor and registered nurse. They will work 24 hours, seven days a week to refer people recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to services in the region where they are currently residing so that they can receive treatment. The teams also will offer on-site counseling. 

For more information on recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, visitwww.dhhemergencynews.com.

-end-