1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
Gulf Coast: Mentally Coping with Two Disasters Journalists Involved: Betty Ann Bowser, Bridget DeSimone
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Original Airdate: Aug. 26, 2010
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
For Gulf residents, life after Hurricane Katrina became about survival. To many, processing heartache, frustration and the enormity of what happened would only get in the way. After five years, many Gulf residents had turned their lives around and were able to begin anew; that is, until the BP oil spill. In the months following Katrina, the devastation — teamed with a culture that doesn't seek help for their anxieties — led to mental health issues nearly doubling. Officials also saw a spike in alcohol and drug abuse as well as reports of domestic violence. The statistics following the oil spill are very similar. Mental health professionals have found their biggest challenge is finding a way to treat uncertainty. In PBS NewsHour's piece entitled "How is the Gulf Coast Mentally Coping with Devastation of Two Disasters?," Health Correspondent Betty Ann Bowser and Producer Bridget DeSimone present an in depth look at the toll Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill are taking on the mental health of Gulf residents. In this segment, Bowser talks to those most affected by the disasters and explores what is being done to serve their mental health needs.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The story was exclusively based on human sources — see below. No FOIA request was necessary.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
This was the most difficult story we did last year in terms of getting people to talk. Mental illness is still something that carries with it a huge negative stigma in the United States, and nowhere is that more pronounced than in the Deep South. However, we finally found a number of mental health professionals who were willing to help us locate people and programs that would help us tell the story of how people in the Gulf are struggling. Dr. Howard Osofsky, chair of the depart of Psychiatry at the LSU Health Sciences center in New Orleans was extremely helpful: he recognized an opportunity to advance public knowledge on this subject and graciously helped us find people who were experiencing mental stress. Dr. Karen DeSalvo of the Tulane School of Public Health was also very knowledgeable and provided guidance and interview subjects. We also ended up just going out into the community and talking to a large number of people to find out their stories. Around the docks, we found fishermen with high levels of stress who were not seeking any kind of counseling: that is how we located the gentleman who became the primary focus of our story.
6. Results (if any).
Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, we did not expect to receive specific feedback on how the story impacted individuals or convinced them to seek counseling. But as mentioned, professionals we spoke with — such as Dr. Howard Osofsky — did say that a national story like this one would undoubtedly advance public knowledge on the subject.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No corrections or clarifications have been necessary.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
My advice to any journalist who wants to do a story on mental health issues like this is to put the cell phone and computer away and get out into neighborhoods where you believe people have had financial and emotional stress and talk to as many as you can. This is not a subject people in a place like Louisiana like to talk about, and in the one county where we spent most of the time there are NO mental health centers and NO mental health providers.