Community Assessment for Mental and Physical Health Effects After Hurricane Irma — Florida Keys, May 2019

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Torres-Mendoza, Yaritbel ; Kerr, Alison ; Schnall, Amy Helene ; Blackmore, Carina ; Hartley, Summer D.
• Description:
  Disasters can adversely affect population health, resulting in increased need for health services. Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys (Monroe County) as a Category 4 hurricane on September 10, 2017. The hurricane caused substantial damage to 65% of homes and resulted in 40 persons injured and 17 deaths from hurricane-related causes.* During 2018, the county suicide rate increased to 34.9 per 100,000 population from the 5-year (2013-2017) average of 25.2 per 100,000 population (1). In May 2019, 20 months after the hurricane, the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) conducted a modified Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) to assess the community's mental, physical, and economic health and develop public health interventions to decrease the suicide rate. A consenting adult member from 231 households was interviewed, and a weighted cluster Analysis was conducted to estimate the number and percentage of households throughout the Florida Keys with a particular response, as well as the number and percentage of persons at risk for suicide. During the 20 months since Hurricane Irma, 17% of households reported a need for a mental health care provider; 37.9% of these did not receive those services. A modified CASPER was used to calculate population estimates of suicide risk in an area of high landfall for hurricanes; estimated population suicide risk was 7.3%. Respondents reported worsening of respiratory conditions (17.7%), anxiety (17.0%), and depression (11.3%). Emergency preparedness plans should consider strengthening mental health service delivery after a hurricane, particularly during the long-term recovery phase.
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Anxiety Community Mental Health Services Cyclonic Storms Depression Disasters Humans Middle Aged Needs Assessment Public Health Risk Assessment Suicide

  More +
• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 70(26):937-941
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Pubmed ID:
  34197364
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8248595
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Issue:
  26
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:01cf0b2d44f0cbe20f3b9dcc801d58ecff628cdfbf214d79a5602ae06c12045ff90b3890c5217401b5e939141a03e55b9c6087b6ac22b44c46e521746cf7f7b3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/108082/cdc_108082_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 149.13 KB ]