Youngest survivors of Hurricane Katrina now sickest kids in U.S.

BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, November 23rd 2008, 11:10 PM

Tama/Getty

Natalie Parker, 6, holds her sister Savannah Riley, outside their FEMA trailer in Buras, La., in May. Natalie has developed asthma since the Hurricane Katrina victims moved into the trailer.

For Katrina kids, the storm is still howling.

The 2005 hurricane's poorest and youngest survivors are now the sickest children in America, according to a new report from Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund.

"The recovery from Katrina was actually handled far worse even than the initial response," said study author Irwin Redlener, a professor at Columbia's School of Public Health and head of the university's National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

"It's just disappeared from public view with an assumption that whatever was done is over."

The study of 261 children who lived through the storm only to spend years in formaldehyde-laced Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers found that the aftermath has been as bad as the storm:

- 41% of those under 4 had iron deficiency anemia, which is double the rate for homeless children in New York City shelters.

- 55% of those 6 and older had mental problems.

- 42% had a respiratory allergy or infection.

- A third had impaired hearing or vision.

Redlener said it was imperative that state leaders on the Gulf Coast realize there is a crisis and make fixing it a priority.

He suggested creating a "child health task force" to track down the scattered Katrina kids, monitor their health and provide them with critical medical care.

The Census Bureau estimates 163,000 children lost their homes in the Gulf Coast storms of 2005.

More than half were from Louisiana, mostly from New Orleans Parish, and they were disproportionately very poor and African-American.

The poorest were also the least likely to return home when conditions improved. As many as 20,000 children are still displaced and badly need medical care, Redlener said.

New York can learn from Louisiana's mistakes, he said.

"The big lesson from Katrina is that we better think about recovery in advance, not just the initial response," Redlener said.

"There's a lesson here for New York as we plan for the recovery from an inevitable terrorist attack or natural disaster. The next stage of 'getting back to normal' can be just as important."